Terror in London. Standing by St. Pancras.

On Guard
Originally uploaded by ickoonite.

I'm typing from the Paul Mellon Centre for British Art, where everyone is huddling around the radio waiting for news about Warren Street. So far it sounds as if everyone was evacuated, but the atmosphere is tense.

I walked here from the British Library, directly next door to King's Cross, where the bombs went off two weeks ago.

As I crossed the few blocks to arrive, I passed St. Pancras's church, a familiar site to scholars, now bedecked with shoals of flowers, photos, poems, news clippings, and banners.

As I walked closer, I realized that the banners announced the Church of England's campaign to "Make Poverty History." Flowers and donations to the war on poverty had transformed seamlessly into a memorial for those dead by terror: a single, coherent prayer for understanding, reconciliation, and peace.