The poet laureate, Andrew Motion, has written a poem in support of a campaign to preserve the nation's churches. English Heritage is seeking to raise the "staggering sum" of £925m in an effort to keep parish churches "alive and thriving".
For Now
In the mind's eye, in the memory-store, for now The church sets sail but stays where it was built, Its anchor hooked into the parish-heart.
In the green yard, in the deep grass, for now Each summer-tide swells up and leaves the dead Untouched inside their plots of tilted earth.
In the flint nave, in the window-shafts, for now The glassy saints grow limber with the sun That ripples through their robes and walk again.
In the blind vault, in the dry hush, for now The coffins hoard their argosies of dust And darkness gleams as definite as light.
In the slow years, in the centuries, for now The villagers arrive to load the ark That saves their lives and settles here as home.
~Copyright Andrew Motion
