Extract from the prose-poem SUMMONED BY BELLS

John Betjeman 1906-84

Safe were those evenings of the pre-war world*

When firelight shone on green linoleum;

I heard the church bells hollowing out the sky,

Deep beyond the deep, like never-ending stars,

And turned to Archibald, my safe old bear,

Whose woollen eyes looked sad or glad at me,

Whose ample forehead I could wet with tears,

Whose half-moon ears received my confidence,

Who made me laugh, who never let me down.

I used to wait for hours to see him move,

Convinced that he could breathe.  One dreadful day

They hid him from me as a punishment:

Sometimes the desolation of that loss

Comes back to me and I must go upstairs

To see him in the sawdust, so to speak,

Safe and returned to his idolator.

*1914-18 war

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