Book of Margery 1.36 "It is appropriate for the wife to be on homely terms with her husband. Be he ever so great a lord and she ever so poor a woman when he weds her, yet they must lie together and rest together in joy and peace. Just so must it be between you and me, for I take no heed of what you have been but what you would be, and I have often told you that I have clean forgiven you all your sins....

Margery took her marriage vow and obligations very seriously and with 14 children under her belt in 20 years - plus a voluntary return in old age from the freedom from him she purchased to the most earthy of geriatric care in their final wedded days - can hardly be accused of any dereliction of conjugal duty. But she shows a lifelong disgust for "fleshly comownyn" with her husband and her Book begins with that infamous post partum psychosis so the other kind of nursing (suckling) referenced here has history too.

But is it so immature to yearn for - divine a vision of - a love more real than the 'reality' with which she was lumbered?

There were always three in Margery's marriage - and none of that trinity was John. How did that feel? This track explores that. 


"Upon the Ouse's stinking beach
I stand and look across,
Amid the waste, and West Lynn seems
The Eden that we've lost.

"I take the ferry there, now Lynn's
Jerusalem or Rome,
Those Walsinghams she'll chase to find
She's just as far from home.

"The grass is always greener on
The other side," I say.
She says, "in heaven it really is
This green hill far away."

With a bump, I bring her back to Earth,
"You’re a mother not that maid
Who sang the Song of Songs to kings,
Our class must toil and trade."

"You great lump, John, in lechery,
You waste my church-spire dreams;
Trade children, chores and chamber pots
For heaven's shining greens."

"The grass is always greener on
The other side," I say.
She says, "in heaven it really is
This green hill far away."

some might say
her carol
wasn’t just
for christmas

but a
hymn
of the
common
people

translating
the
liturgical
latin
dove

into
lollard
robin
English

seeing through

the
sacraments
she adored

the
altars
she married

the
stained glass
she read

the
Holy Writ
she couldn’t

to the face of

GOD


I drag her from her saints and bones
Back here to old man flesh,
From deathless soul to perished clay
And bonds she would forget.

My vision splintered like my head
In five parts from my Fall,
Her vision capped by labouring love
Of wifedom like a pall.

"The grass is always greener on
The other side," I say.
She says "in heaven it really is
This green hill far away."

Yet wife-nursing my fetid flesh
So tenderly she seems
More like an angel or a saint
Than all her church-spire dreams.

Unmarried priests can only watch
In awe, her tendering love.
"Is this the end of me?" I cry.
"No, John. You're here - above."

"The grass is always greener on
The other side," I say.
She says " in heaven it really is
This green hill far away."

from A Mass of Carols For Margery, released December 25, 2022 https://peacocks-tale.bandcamp.com/track/the-mortification-of-mr-margery Tune by Andy Wall arr. Peacock's Tale. Words ©Gareth Calway 2016. Track art (Lynn waterfront seen from West Lynn) by Bhas Allan.

The Mortification of Mr Margery

A marriage (and we are actually married, 45 years so far) of melody and rhythm. We do folk, indie, Americana, Norfolk noir, beat poems &  ghazals. Traditional tunes with contemporary beats. Music videos  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb8wV0-DNiFs1R5G2VSytBQ
Maz lead & harmony vocals, acoustic guitar. Gaz vocals, voice, bass, drums & percussion, harmonium, recorders, lyre harp, field recordings.

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