That’s a fact

High above
           in the bare branches
of the tall trees that line
           Gray’s Inn Road
a number of birds
           have feathered their nests
Here in 1679
           an excavation revealed
elephant bones
           and alongside them
a pointed flint hand axe
           first thought to have originated
from the time of Noah’s flood
           According to today’s estimation
the axe is over 350,000 years old
           and was buried during a period
in the Ice Age and at a time
           when elephants still lived
in Britain when the climate
           was much as it is today
and this has absolutely
           no bearing on the many
legal chambers that now
           occupy the area

John Lyons