Poet-in-residence
Cecilia Knapp is our first ever poet-in-residence, celebrating our five iconic bridges, our deep history, our role as a major funder, and the work of the many organisations we support
All around us, silver
A poem for Millennium Bridge by Cecilia Knapp, City Bridge Foundation’s poet-in-residence
A poem for Millennium Bridge
To celebrate 25 years of Millennium Bridge, our poet-in-residence Cecilia Knapp has written a new poem. ‘All around us, silver’ captures the spirit, movement and meaning of this unique footbridge.
To accompany the poem, filmmaker Alexander Nicolaou has captured the sights and sounds of the bridge in motion. Watch the short film inspired by the poem and see the bridge from a new perspective.
This is the third in a series of poems written by Cecilia as City Bridge Foundation’s poet-in-residence, in partnership with The Poetry Society.
Filming by Alexander Nicolaou
“I wanted to capture how crossing the bridge can be a moment of connection – with the city, with each other, with art and with poetry.”
Cecilia Knapp
Listen to the poem on SoundCloud
Read the poem
All around us, silver
After John Donne’s The Sun Rising
Silver metal warmed by June.
The Thames below, a mouth
of silver teeth. Behind us,
the pale stone dome
beneath which poets sleep.
The river carries music from
somewhere far away
like a dog with a gift held
softly in its snout.
Isn’t it love that brings us here?
Or at least our capacity for it
under the mean and heavy days.
Our want to see the river,
to see the sky go on and on.
For the wind to blow the grief off us,
to find a saucy slice of sun.
To walk, with no traffic, along
a blade of light, this people’s bridge,
towards paintings in impossible blues.
And even if we don’t think it is,
let’s call it love, what brings us here.
For ourselves, or for this place,
or even for each other. Some need
to be near to one another,
even for the briefest time—
(Where are you off to, red scrunchie?
I hope it’s somewhere nice.)
Yes, I think it must be
love of some small kind.
Everything else is just rags.
Want more poetry in unexpected places?
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It’s 25-up for London’s iconic Millennium Bridge
A quarter of a century after it opened… and promptly closed, London’s most famous footbridge is celebrating its 25th birthday.