A Prayer For Librarians

 

Blessed One-ness

We forget a lot:

Data and addresses,

Old loves and enemies,

Where we put the keys

And where we put the freedoms. 

But there are the people who remember 

Or who remember where to look when it’s time to remember—

Librarians 

Archivists 

Collectors

Even hoarders

Cataloguing the past,

Keeping knowledge safe,

Sometimes at great risk

Because the first thing dictators do

Is ban books, history, music, science, art and journalism. 

But libraries keep our stuff safe

Until it’s time to emerge. 

The monks of the Middle Ages

The archivists of the Warsaw Ghetto

The librarians of MAGA America

Are heroes

And we give thanks. 

May they have all the courage they need. 

Amen