On National Poetry Day 2017, we are delighted that Jim Carruth, Glasgow’s Poet Laureate, has composed a poem for Govanhill Baths.
Cast into the Pool at Babel
(for Govanhill Baths)
Like silent eternity at the bottom,
senses numb, depth pressing you against
all that rubble from the ruined tower.
Some above would love to see you drown.
What judgement has been brought here-
a common voice is not sickness but strength
so you who have long held your breath
push yourself back up towards the light,
join a shoal of other shadows rising up
till you break the surface, gasping for breath,
surrounded by a bobbing cacophony of words.
Come find your tongue – join the chorus.
