Poem by Kate Gold

Lament for Lammas Day

I will not decorate the altar
with flowers and fruit
For how can I celebrate a harvest
when the seeds sown
in the hearts of vengeful tyrants
yield only famine and war?
For what do we reap in this season?
We reap the bones of children.

The wind that blows through the barley
carries the weakened cries of a starving nation
and the last stolen breaths of thousands.
The rain that falls on the ripened corn
stings salt with the tears of the mothers and fathers
who hold the remains of their mown-down children
in their disbelieving arms.
This harvest brings a bounty of blown off limbs
fresh from the killing fields
Each fruit is tainted with the blood of the innocent

​I will carry no celebratory sheaves
home from the meadow
Let there be no harvest supper
with plates laden with food.
I will lay the table with empty plates,
empty glasses and weep
for the cruelty of men.
And I will pray
that with the pulling of the plough
and the turning of the land,
a new season of peace
may take hold and grow.

THEME: Genocidal Starvation

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Kate Gold is a painter and poet living on the edge of Dartmoor and has written poetry since a child. After she studied poetry as part of a creative arts degree, she took her writing more seriously, honing and developing her writing skills. She went on to achieve an M.A in creative writing (poetry) In the past Kate worked as an art, poetry and creative writing tutor in HMP Bristol and ran writing workshops in community settings. Much of her poetry is inspired by her love of the wild beauty of the natural environment and her experience of caring for the dying. Her first poetry pamphlet was published in 2022 by Jawbone Press in Dorset.

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