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Spell of the bridge

Helen Lamb

Hold the wish on your tongue
As you cross
What the bridge cannot hear
Cannot fall

For the river would carry
Your hopes to the sea
To the net of a stranger
To the silt bed of dreams

Hold the wish on your tongue
As you cross
And on the far side
Let the wish go first


Helen Lamb

from The Thing That Mattered Most (Black & White / Scottish Poetry Library, 2006)

Reproduced by permission of the author.

Tags:

bridges dreams magic and spells superstition

About this poem

Spell of the bridge National Poetry Day postcard 2007

This poem was reproduced on a postcard for National Poetry Day 2007. Eight poetry postcards are published each year by the Scottish Poetry Library to celebrate National Poetry Day and are distributed throughout Scotland to schools, libraries and other venues. The theme for 2007 was dreams. You can find out more about National Poetry Day in our National Poetry Day pages, where you’ll also find resources to go with the poems.

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Helen Lamb1956 - 2017

Helen Lamb was a poet and fiction writer. A winner of the Scotland on Sunday/Women 2000 short story prize, Helen’s work was widely published in literary journals and anthologies and appeared in translation. Many of her stories were broadcast on...
More about Helen Lamb

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