In deceptively simple language, Mario Relich reflects on the fundamental importance of books and the iniquity of those who burn them.

This thoughtful piece comes from his collection Frisky Ducks And Other Poems (Grace Note Publications, £7.50). The poet is based in Edinburgh.

TWILIGHT OF A BIBLIOPHILE

Yes, it will come to pass,

my books will outlive me,

just left to kith and kin,

or donated to Oxfam.

~

They are so much a part

of myself, and my life

so enriched by authors,

all vital – dead or alive.

~

Montaigne was my guide

one day, Pascal on another,

Dostoevsky always,

Kafka, Tolstoy favourites.

~

What a funeral pyre

the books would make!

But then history tells me

book-burners are killers.

~

Among the torched,

let me name Brecht

Proust, Rushdie,

and Arundhati Roy.

~

Their books live on,

I can’t be a pyromaniac,

or like Hitler in his bunker,

book-burner cornered,

~

trapped in petrol-soaked

immolation. All he left

was a testament of hate,

utterly reviled to this day.