The weight of the words
in the library win
only and
only when read
when spread on the streets
for living and dead.
But when the words
bend for the swords of the mighty.
when burning and banning
is normal for books,
when resistance is reading
in darkness
away from the all-seeing eyes
we know that only with lies
the powers seem strong.
Cause, when illusion is power
you only need fire of words
to welcome the dawn.
Juan Gris
Today at dVerse Poetics Lisa host with a prompt on power. It is an open prompt, and I focused on how much the powers of today fear knowledge.
August 8, 2025
Björn Rudbergs writings 
I’ve been waiting for a new librarian poem, Björn – thank you, even if it is a dark one! I love the idea that ‘resistance is reading in darkness’, and these lines:
‘…when illusion is power
you only need fire of words
to welcome the dawn’.
Oh I hoped that I could bring in some light in the end.
Bjorn, my whole body was tingling as I read your words of irrefutable truth. EXCELLENT poem. This one is a keeper for a future anthology. Please put it in your special folder.
Ha… thank you
You are welcome.
when the words
bend for the swords of the mighty.” This is what’s happendng, and books are being banned. Many of those in power do fear knowledge and oppose learning.
Wow, amazing!
Guns on the whole are terrifying, but survivable, unlike the burning of books. Salute to the library.
Sadly, not only the banning of books but also the bending of the meaning of what has been written…all too often in the name of religion or politics!
May Trump burn on a pile of Emerson’s books in hell.
Books are worth more than gold and they only burn them when the emperor wears no clothes.
A wonderful poem, Bjorn. This is such a good line…
we know that only with lies
the powers seem strong.
I fear less the burning of books — such control is ever self-consuming — than the digital desert of minds which once could cross oceans in a book. What happens when the tribe forgets to think, imagine, sing back?
Book burning is one of the worst crimes in my “book” but dictators never last foe ever and librarians will one day re-stock the shelves Björn…
Thank you,to the Librarian, for this reminder.
Fantastic Bjorn!! We know that very early in the Authoritarianism 101 guide book it tells that words are dangerous and must be controlled and then re-written so that the past can be now be taught anew to fit the current state, as if things had always been that/this way.
But yes, “Cause, when illusion is power
you only need fire of words
to welcome the dawn” – Perfect!
words are our best weapon and defence, love the poem
Yes, “only with lies the powers seem strong”. Who would have imagined the lies would have ever become so brazen though? You got this Bjorn.
Nice last stanza there Björn
The power of words, Bjorn .. yes. So happy you opened the doors to your library! Cheers.
A rebirth, a rekindling of the kind, if you will. Love it.
so thought-provoking, esepcially that last triplet
may the libraries always be open and free!