Abigail Flint

bertha at north lees hall

After Charlotte Bronte and Jean Rhys

There was nothing to hide
from him. His eyes saw past the heat
from all that air. Outside

on terraces where bougainvillea climbed,
hibiscus kissed at night, we dreamed
there was nothing to hide.

Now, watched by ditchwater skies
my nights and days repeat,
away from all that air. Outside,

this land is formaldehyde,
it chokes with bracken spores and peat.
There is nothing to hide

me. I am no thing to hide
You are nowhere         He speaks
from all that air outside

that’s burning, burning. Untied,
I swim past walls and breathe.
There is nothing to hide
from all that air outside.

Note: North Lees Hall, just above Hathersage in the Peak District, was visited several times in 1845 by Charlotte Bronte and is thought to be the inspiration for Thornfield Hall in her novel Jane Eyre.

Abigail Flint is a heritage researcher from Sheffield who incorporates poetry within her academic research. Her poems have been published or are forthcoming in a range of magazines including Under the Radar, Ink Sweat and Tears, Reliquiae, Popshot Quarterly, About Larkin, and 192 magazine, and research project anthologies.