Lay me down gently,
Lay me down slow,
Lay me down here
By the late fire’s glow.Lay me down softly
and ease my sight,
down to the river
This one last night.I brought you no victories
Though you made me your King.
Now small talk of triumph
Seems a meaningless thing.No conquests,
No concubines,
No palace, no gold.
Just this hill and these fields,
Just this night and this cold
that comes up from the waters
far off to the west.So lay me down softly
At the hill’s gentle crest.
Jon Hamp
May 2016
With thanks to Martin Palmer whose research prompted thought about those buried, long ago, on or near the hill.
- You can hear Jon Hamp read this in his Kelston Roundhill trilogy on the new live Three Cane Whale recording now on sale from Kelston Records (CD, download) – described as “a fabulous release” by Verity Sharpe in this BBC Radio 3 Record Review.
Kelston Roundhill and Roundhill Barn 
Thank you Jon for a really atmospheric poem x love that hill x
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I just encounterd Jon reading from a recording of his poem, No Palace No Gold, on Radio 3. A wonderfully poweful voice and deeply touching words that linger long in your thoughts.
Say!! Which programme? Is there a link?
btw CD & downloads of Jon Hamp reading his Kelston trilogy live with Three Cane Whale available from Kelston Records https://kelstonrecords.greedbag.com (also the mega music stores iTunes, Google, Amazon etc)
Link to this wonderful piece on BBC Radio3 Record Review today http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08ljh5y#play – tune in at 2:34:50
It’s the near-divine Verity Sharp on the classical music review show (which uses wonderful language). Sounds great!
For more on Kelston Records see https://kelstonrecords.co.uk/