Across the bay
they staged a play
in Minack theatre’s round;
Twelfth Night it was,
‘Twelfth’Night the play,
when was heard an eerie sound.
.
Black-sailed, square rigged,
the boat sailed in,
as for many years she had;
and baying hounds
were heard again,
a cry to make one mad.
.
The boat sailed on
‘til soon was gone
and all remained was fear;
and Viola in the water,
swimming for her safety,
until the land drew near.
.
She laid forlorn
upon the sand
almost at an end;
until the folk
from round about
did come to help her mend.
.
If food and drink
could make her whole,
then food and drink were tried;
but succour none
she got from them,
and so Viola died.
.
Her ghost, it walks,
but never talks,
upon the coastal shore,
every Twelfth Night
since that night,
a burden to endure.
.
And people wince
and pray to God
when that fell time is here,
and promise up
their new first born
for her to disappear.
.
But, Viola treads
upon the verge
of sea and sand and death;
where she was lost
at no small cost
with her final cursèd breath.
.
Cesario stands atop the cliff,
upon that self same night,
his Viola never came to him,
perhaps one day she might.
.
And with little hope,
he glances back
as he leaves that place once more;
where Viola landed on the shore
and died that tearful night.
.
Graeme Sandford 