"Libraries at War" from U A Fanthorpe, Collected Poems 1978-2003

One of the presents given for my birthday was the Collected Poems 1978-2003 of U A Fanthorpe. Not reading it through though, at least not yet. In any case it's a good book to have on the desk for those moments when you want a poem - in the same way that sometimes you want a coffee. And such an occasional but regular use of a book of poems takes it no less seriously than going to put on the kettle. Poetry on demand is no bad thing, and this book has seldom disappointed. The poem "Libraries at War", about the civilising and humanising activity of reading as a form of resistance to war reminded me of how J B philips translated the New Testament into modern english - while taking shelter in the London underground during the blitz. As the bombs fell, ancient texts first written on papyrus, translated into spiritual truth more accessible to a modern world needing to hear again the message of reconciliation. Fanthorpe's poem celebrates that persistent enjoyment of beauty, truth and goodness that lies at the heart of human creativity, and hope for a human future.

Libraries at War

The more you destroy them, the louder we call for books.
The war-weary read and read, fed by a Library
Service for Air-raid Shelters and Emergency Teams.

We can still come across them, the pinched economy
Utility war-time things, their coarse paper, their frail covers.
Such brightness in the dark: Finnegan's Wake,

The Grapes of Wrath, The Last Tycoon, Four Quartets,
Put out More Flags . On benches, underground,
In Plymouth, Southampton, Gateshead, Glasgow, in the Moscow Metro
They sit, wearing a scatter of clothing, caught off-guard,

The readers reading, needing it, while terror
Mobilizes in sound-waves overhead,
Lost in the latest. Something long. Or funny.

Fire, fear, dictators all have it in for books.
The more you destroy them, the louder we call.

When the last book's returned, there is nothing but the dark.

U A Fanthorpe, Collected Poems, 1978-2003, page 468.

Comments

[chris]

You're the only person other than my husband whom I've seen mention J B Philips - he reads that version regularly.
I agree about the dipping into poetry collections - I used to do that at work, when there was always an anthology sitting on my desk in the classroom. Mind, I could justify it as work!
;-)