Rotten Heart

'WARNING! Myrtle Park, Bingley, West Yorks' - at least that's what the sign said.

It started as a joke.
Like with the Triffid.
In this Toddlers paradise dark corners abound. This hacked off stump in its chilly dip glinted at me as I passed. I saw 3 fingers like dark slugs slide into its black mole centre.

These are not the ravings of a madman - others have seen things too - not here maybe but they've SEEN THINGS.


"..........in the stumps of old trees, where the heart has rotted out,
There are holes the
Length of a man's arm where the weasels
Are trapped and the letters of the rook
Language are laced on the sodden leaves,
And at the bottom there is a man's arm.
But do not put your hand down to see,
Because ......"


Verse from: 'Poem ('In the stump of the old tree....')' by Hugh Sykes Davies