A PRECIOUS, mouldering pleasure ’t is | |
To meet an antique book, | |
In just the dress his century wore; | |
A privilege, I think, | |
His venerable hand to take, | 5 |
And warming in our own, | |
A passage back, or two, to make | |
To times when he was young. | |
His quaint opinions to inspect, | |
His knowledge to unfold | 10 |
On what concerns our mutual mind, | |
The literature of old; | |
What interested scholars most, | |
What competitions ran | |
When Plato was a certainty, | 15 |
And Sophocles a man; | |
When Sappho was a living girl, | |
And Beatrice wore | |
The gown that Dante deified. | |
Facts, centuries before, | 20 |
He traverses familiar, | |
As one should come to town | |
And tell you all your dreams were true: | |
He lived where dreams were born. | |
His presence is enchantment, | 25 |
You beg him not to go; | |
Old volumes shake their vellum heads | |
And tantalize, just so. |
Forget not that the Earth delights to feel your bare feet and the Wind longs to play with your hair - Kahlil Gibran
5 Aug 2010
Emily Dickinson, one of my favorite poets
Browsing through some of Emily Dickinson's poems I came across this one:
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2 comments:
She is one of my favorites also.
I like this poem and these lines stand out:
'His presence is enchantment,
You beg him not to go;
Old volumes shake their vellum heads And tantalize, just so.'
It's so true that books enchant and tantalize us.
http://thebookworm07.blogspot.com/
Yes Naida...how true! And old books even more so
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