Tuesday 8 February 2011

Love Song for my Local Library by Julia Golding

Published here, by kind permission of the author, is the poem specially written by Julia Golding for her Read-In at Botley Library on Saturday. Many thanks Julia for your lovely poem and for your support on Saturday!


You were my first pick-‘n-mix
A box of delights
A place to be a brave explorer
Maker of mistakes – at no cost.
Ant and Bee, Baba Papa
Marmalade sandwiches with a lost bear.
You were my first wardrobe
Containing my ballet shoes
My necklace of raindrops
And a worn calico print dress on the prairie.
You were my first suitcase
packed ready to see the world,
Taking me down the bright stream
Into a midnight garden
And to the house called Green Knowe.
You were my first Valentine’s card
An introduction to suitable (and unsuitable) boys
Dickon, the lad with earthy hands
Gilbert, undeterred by a girl who dyed her hair green
Eustace Scrubb who travelled a magic sea seeking
The British Consul.
If you go, there will be no secret garden for my children
Moonfleet beach will empty of smugglers
The Last Unicorn will be but a rumour.
Will we let the curtain swish
closed on our library?
Shut the way through the woods?
Nevermore.
We want to encourage a hobbit of reading
Leave everything just so
A never-ending story…

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