[Glenn Wright]

Hi, David—
My knowledge of Manx history is nil, so I did some quick googling. I discovered that there is a monument called Corrin’s Tower or Corrin’s Folly on a small hill above the town of Peel on the Isle of Man. It was built in 1806 by Thomas Corrin (1770-1845), and next to it is a small graveyard where Corrin’s wife and two of his children are buried. The article I found did not say that Corrin himself was buried there, but it seemed to comport with the third stanza of your poem. There was also a Thomas Corrin (1638-1734), from Arbory, Rushden, Isle of Man, presumably an ancestor of the tower builder. There was also a Captain Thomas Oswald Corrin (1892-1940) from Lancashire who was an organist. This seems to connect to the reference to a trumpet voluntary in the last line, since a trumpet voluntary is an organ piece played on the trumpet stops, usually at a solemn ceremony like a wedding (or a Judgment Day).

I assumed that the three burials were of the same person, who was first buried in a consecrated churchyard, then disinterred and hidden (buried?) under a hedge in non-consecrated ground, and finally buried a third time on a hilltop (with or without a tower) again without benefit of church ritual. The organ music and resurrection would normally suggest a church-approved burial, but the poem explicitly states that this last burial was “unconsecrated.” I would love to know the full story of this personage. Was he a figure in some religious squabble? Were his relatives responsible for disturbing his final rest twice? Does the speaker in the poem approve of the last burial, or does the word “unceremoniously” mean that Corrin will be left among the goats on the Last Day? Does the speaker disapprove of the church ceremonies that have caused such ado in the burial of Mr. Corrin?

Although the lines are short and not metrical, the fourteen lines and structure suggest a sonnet.
I really enjoyed your poem, David!
Glenn