Richard III before Bosworth Field by James Walton

 

I was walking on a local beach known for its dinosaur fossils, playing with pebbles and sea weed, thinking about the elapse of time in waves, and how the same amount of water has always existed, and is all we will ever have, and how it has touched everything that has ever lived at some point. Shakespeare had written for his audience the prevailing truths accepted about Richard, but I wonder how much we can ever really know, and the thoughts and doubts that occur to any human, touched by the same water and sand that envelops us. So I thought of Richard, coming ashore on his return, what might have been the contemporary accounts if he’d been given better lines for a different perspective, and how he may have pondered the turn of events in his life, the night before Bosworth.
– James Walton

James Walton is a celebrated Australian poet currently based in South Gippsland, Victoria. His poems have appeared in Eureka Street, The Wonder Book of Poetry, Bluepepper, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, Great Ocean Quarterly, Australian Poetry, Australian Love Poems, Bukowski On Wry, Australian Poetry Journal and many others.

His wonderful collection of poems, The Leviathan’s Apprentice, is available from Amazon.

You can find James on Facebook, and follow more of his writing at Poetry Hubgarden.

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