Lost poem in the Lost City

Who painted over Waterloo’s best loved work of public art? Ten years ago, poet and art critic Sue Hubbard, was commissioned by the Poetry Society and the BFI to decorate the tunnel that leads from Waterloo to the Imax cinema. She duly did so with a poem about Eurydice, the mythical heroine imprisoned underground in the underworld.  This was very apt as commuters made their way through the tunnel, and suddenly emerged into the light.

On passing by recently, Hubbard was understandably upset to discover that the mosaics of her words have been painted over in what she terms, an un-fetching shade of ‘lavatory blue.’  The poem was only recently voted by Time Out one of the top ten sights in London. “I’m not just upset for me,” she tells me.  “But for all of the people who loved the poem. I’ve received so many letters about it over the years. It’s cultural vandalism.”

I’d include myself among that aggrieved number.  Walking over Waterloo Bridge , into the City, I walked past her poem every day for months. There can’t be many poems that I have read so often and that have got so deep under my skin.  As you start to read, you descend further into the tunnel with the poem reading, ‘I am not afraid as I descend, step by step, leaving behind the salt wind/blowing up the corrugated river...’ With its headily urban recasting of the myth, it was given even more splendour by leading you out onto Waterloo Bridge : one of my favourite views in London , especially very early in the morning.

After some investigation I’ve found the culprit.  Network Rail admit they were the ones who saw fit to paint over the poem. A spokesperson opines:  “The underpass between Waterloo station and the IMAX has recently been spruced up, with huge amounts of graffiti removed and a fresh coat of paint applied throughout. Unfortunately some of this graffiti covered Sue Hubbard’s wonderful poem and could not be removed on its own. We would be more than happy for the poem to return to the subway’s newly painted walls.”

When so much public sculpture is a meaningless, banal and embarrassing waste of money, it is a terrible shame that something so wonderful was so thoughtlessly erased. The BFI, who commissioned the work, weren’t consulted and so naturally aren’t thrilled: ‘While the BFI applauds and welcomes recent work to improve the tunnels leading from Waterloo to the IMAX cinema, we are disappointed that the poem originally commissioned for the space has been erased. It was a much loved piece of inspiring poetry which helped to transform the space and we would very much like to see the poem reinstated by Network Rail who are responsible for that area.’  

For now, I must be among hundreds missing the lines as you reach the light at the end of the tunnel: ‘I dream of a green garden/where the sun feathers my face/like your once eager kiss.//Soon, soon I will climb from this blackened earth/into the diffident light.’ Over to you Network Rail. You can read Sue’s amazing poem here.