Napo 6 - 2021 - A Summoning?"
2 am, alone in the forge,
communing with history,
meeting another impossible deadline.
Usually self-inflicted.
'Moving metal' with a hammer,
and Vulcan's fiery breath.
Forging a sword.
A battered tape machine playing.
Hendrix bouncing off the walls,
Voodoo Child,
absorbed into the darkness
of surrounding fields.
'M' The Armourer,
in his element.
Ragged working clothes,
roughly sewn from blankets,
old curtains and suchlike.
Heavy stuff which catches sparks,
without bursting into flame.
Plus his filthy medieval hat,
the long-tailed blood-red 'liripipe',
growing shorter each year,
nibbled by flame and machinery.
Often used like an oven glove.
A knock on the smoke-smeared glass
a glimpse of black and red beyond.
He thinks it's me,
having a restless night,
and opens the door.
A stranger stood there,
a curious time-warp figure,
a classic 60s Hippy,
thirty years adrift.
"I was hitching on the bypass, Man.
No traffic but I heard your sounds,
just had to check them out."
'M' pushed the kettle onto the forge.
"I can offer you tea,
if you'll make one for me.
I'm busy though."
The Hippy obliged, but looked puzzled,
bewildered by the archaic tools,
mesmerised by the glowing hearth
and the medieval ambience.
Totally failed to understand why.
"Who wants to play at war?"
They talked for an hour,
a rambling dialogue on music,
festivals, and dead guitar heroes.
Interspersed with noisy hammering
and the hiss of quenching metal.
'M' gave him a sandwich,
then the Hippy cocked his head,
listening to the world outside..
"Sounds like the traffic's picking up,
time to wag my thumb again, Man."
As the day dawned so did the thought...
Was his laid-back visitor real?
Or the ghost of a long dead hitcher,
summoned by the voice of Hendrix?
Gyppo
If you don't know the Hendrix tune, here's a link. Imagine the opening chords echoing out into the otherwise night-quiet countryside.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZBlqcbpmxY
