Where the Railway Lies
It was hardly Dombey and Son in Stroud
When Brunel brought the railway into town:
No earthquakes, or bridges that went nowhere;
Instead: Dickensian Cheapside.
I walked beneath the beech tree, by the Black History notice boards,
Pondering on the elusive meanings of that ambiguous word ‘Heritage’,
Remembering the GWR coat of arms:
‘Domine Dirige Nos: Virtute et Industria’
‘Lord Guide Us: ‘Virtue and Industry’;
Remembering these Bristolians
Who benefitted from the abolition of slavery:
Thomas Daniel: major shareholder in the GWR;
Richard Bright: GWR deputy chairman;
George Gibbs, director of the Great Western Railway;
Christopher Claxton: zealous defender of the West Indian plantocracy,
Close confiding colleague of Isambard Kingdom Brunel,
Claxton, the future managing director
Of the Great Western Steamship Company …
Remember this when you journey on our branch line
Wandering through the Golden Valley,
Half in love with the picturesque perspective –
But lines of steel stretch to revelation point,
As you see how the railway lies.