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alan-mcclurePoems
I was dragged out of trees, off ropeswings away from friends every single Sunday of my youth. The big grey church filled with frumpy hatted snobs lit through windows covered in incomprehensible verse held neither wonder, peace nor fascination. Long, agonising sits, trying not to giggle with my brothers and praying only for the ordeal to end did little to fill me with reverence. But there was a place. There was a building in whose hallowed hush I felt the truth of awe, a place where universes were revealed, imagination ignited, questions answered clearly and not with twenty tons of sludgy obfuscation. The library. I loved it even before I could read, and afterwards, well - it still seems incredible that such a place could exist. Time passes. And the fact that the powdered old cows can still fill the church each Sunday, fill the collection plates, sing their ****** songs and go, while rows of empty shelves gather dust in the ghost of the library simply makes me want to weep.
0
Mar 30, 2011
Mar 30, 2011 at 11:37 AM UTC
Closure
I was dragged out of trees, off ropeswings away from friends every single Sunday of my youth. The big grey church filled with frumpy hatted snobs lit through windows covered in incomprehensible verse held neither wonder, peace nor fascination. Long, agonising sits, trying not to giggle with my brothers and praying only for the ordeal to end did little to fill me with reverence. But there was a place. There was a building in whose hallowed hush I felt the truth of awe, a place where universes were revealed, imagination ignited, questions answered clearly and not with twenty tons of sludgy obfuscation. The library. I loved it even before I could read, and afterwards, well - it still seems incredible that such a place could exist. Time passes. And the fact that the powdered old cows can still fill the church each Sunday, fill the collection plates, sing their ****** songs and go, while rows of empty shelves gather dust in the ghost of the library simply makes me want to weep.
For readers outside the UK, you might not realise that our government is closing down libraries at a terrifying rate.  I'm not blaming the church in any way, shape or form - this is just a personal expression of a feeling of injustice.- From Also Available Free
alan-mcclure
Written by
alan-mcclure
Scottish
Mar 30, 2011
Mar 30, 2011 at 11:37 AM UTC
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