 | Reuben and Other Poems |  |
BOOKS AND THOUGHTS.
As round these well-selected shelves one looks,
Remembering years of reading leisure flown,
It kills all hope to think how many books
He still must leave unknown.
Remembering years of reading leisure flown,
It kills all hope to think how many books
He still must leave unknown.
But when to thoughts, instead of books, he comes,
Regret grows less for what he cannot read,
If he reflects how many learned tomes
One thought may supersede.
Regret grows less for what he cannot read,
If he reflects how many learned tomes
One thought may supersede.
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So, let him be a toiling, unread man,
And the idea, like an added sense,
Of God informing all his life, he can
With many a book dispense.
And the idea, like an added sense,
Of God informing all his life, he can
With many a book dispense.
The fine conviction, too, that Death, like Sleep,
Wakes into higher dream—this thought will brook
Denial of the libraries, and keep
The key of many a book.
Wakes into higher dream—this thought will brook
Denial of the libraries, and keep
The key of many a book.
| Reuben and Other Poems | |