Memorial, St. Baglan’s Church, Llanfaglan 

And also their fifth son
who gloriously fell while leading the forlorn
hope at the memorable siege of Badajoz

a fierce Welshman, preferring
the white eyes of night battle
to these silent hills, the Menai’s race.

What dreams take a man
to war’s red tide, where a Viscount’s gift
is death-bed promotion?

Sweeter perhaps than Mary Owen’s eyes
the catch of a lychgate—
retrenchment, breach, cunette.

Published in PN Review, Volume 48, No.6, 2022