So far as I can tell, this heretic was a follower of John Wycliffe, a reformer of sorts, burnt at the stake, and the term Lollard derives from a mutterer, ie to be found mumbling over the bible. No mumbler here. It is the defamatory names that stick, apparently "Cathar" is a dirty word, and that for a noble cause. I think.
The Heretic
Great heckler in
the crowd,
objecting to gold ornament
choses trouble over intellect, says:
Give me Death or give me Honour!
Farewell, William Balowe.
‘An herretyke ibrende at the Towre hyll’
who railed against his jailers, so:
‘…no priest had no more
power
to hear confession than Jack Hare!
What means this,
Priest? On Goode Fryday
ye fill the sepulchres with gods
but since they cannot rise themselves
at Ester Day you lift them up
and bere them for the, or else they will
lie still in their graves...’
This is no witch to
be upended,
drowned for kicks in village ponds:
a fiery soul put to the question
his words recorded in the book,
in chains before
Saint Dominic,
his hands en-grimed and eyes upon
the devil’s fire before the church.
Whose bell rings out for William?
An heretic bridling at icons, sure,
as if in mockery of God
to mimic resurrection.
