Poetic Invitation Inspired By Senator John Warner's Gift to the Wartime Museum
July 17, 2010 -
By: Susan Katz Keating
A short while back, the esteemed (now retired) Senator from Virginia, John W. Warner, entrusted me with a remarkable gift for the forthcoming American Wartime Museum. If memory serves me, I telephoned Senator Warner while working on a PEOPLE magazine story – and at some point, we began talking about the museum, for which I am Secretary of the Board of Trustees. In the course of our chat, the senator and I said something along the lines of, “gee, wouldn’t it be great if the museum had a library….”
A few days later, Senator Warner sent me a package via special delivery. The package contained a rare first edition of The Old Front Line by John Masefield, the former Poet Laureate of Great Britain. The book, published in 1917, originally belonged to Sen. Warner’s father. It arrived on my doorstep accompanied by a note that read, in part: “Here is your first book – it’s not a loan. It’s yours.”
The Old Front Line is an account of the beginning of the Battle of the Somme. Although it is written in prose, it reads like poetry.
Read the rest of Susan’s post here.
