Old Books

A precious - mouldering pleasure - 'tis -
To meet an Antique Book -
It's just the dress his century wore -
A privilege -  I think -

His venerable Hand to take -
And warming in our own -
A passage back - or two - to make -
To Times when he - was young -

His quaint opinions - to inspect -
His thought to ascertain
On Themes concern our mutual mind
The Literature of Man -

What interested Scholars - most -
What Competitions ran -
When Plato - was a Certainty -
And Sophocles - a Man -

When Sappho - was a living Girl -
And Beatrice wore
The Gown that Dante - deified -
Facts centuries before

He traverses - familiar -
As One should come to Town -
And tell you all your Dreams - were true -
He lived - when Dreams were born -

His presence is enchantment -
You beg him not to go -
Old Volumes shake their Vellum Heads
And tantalize - just so -


Emily Dickinson
The Poems of Emily Dickinson (Franklin), 565