30 May 2026

In her poem, ‘Tyndale in Darkness’, UA Fanthorpe tells the story of William Tyndale in beautiful blank verse. In particular, she exposes the humanity of the disciples whom Jesus calls. She imagines them aboard the boat in the storm:

Why did he ask them to stay awake

When He knew they couldn’t? Because He always does.

He picks the amateurs who follow Him

For love, not devout professionals

With a safe pair of hands. Look at Peter,

A man permanently in hot water, chosen,

Perhaps, for that very thing. God sets his mark

On us all.

And then her Tyndale reflects on his own predicament and the unique calling which was his, to use his ability as a scholar to bring the living Word, as he called it, to ordinary people:

You start and it’s easy:

I heard the ploughboy whistling under Coombe Hill,

And I thought, I could do that. Give him God’s Word,

I mean, in his own workaday words. And I did,

But it got difficult: exile, hardship, shipwreck,

Spies everywhere. Then prison, and the fire.

God’s mark on me, as on Peter. I would have slept too.