In that Victorian pleasure garden
the Pells recreation ground
a walled pool and a play space
in commemoration of a Jubilee
all the time a spring runs
into another rugged-winter
into another summer
a solitary outdoor attendant
once maintained the grounds
In winters the ponds were
skated by the bravest
but the swimming baths made a better
skating surface when lowered
to allow it to freeze two tickets at tuppence
but his body floated beneath the thick surface
eventually retrieved through cracks
hauled with a long-handled crook
horse-drawn off to the mortuary
but they knew his true story
a wife of complaints and disagreements