Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE BOOKS I OUGHT TO READ, by ABBIE FARWELL BROWN



Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE BOOKS I OUGHT TO READ, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: On dusty shelves in serried ranks they stand
Last Line: The books I ought to read!
Subject(s): Books; Reading


ON dusty shelves in serried ranks they stand,
Reproachful thousands, quaint, and grave and great.
My guilty conscience hears their mute commands,
Yet day by day -- they wait.

Their army grows more deadly every year;
Their captain-names I cannot call to mind.
A friend amid the order would, I fear,
Be very hard to find.

But to a corner shelf by most forgot,
I steal, and to my conscience pay no heed,
With boon companions dear. Yet these are not
The books I ought to read!





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