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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
BOOKS, by FLORENCE VAN CLEVE
First Line: My neighbor's books sit primly in a row
Last Line: Upon my neighbor's shelves, I pity you!
Subject(s): Books; Reading
First Line: My neighbor's books sit primly in a row
Last Line: Upon my neighbor's shelves, I pity you!
Subject(s): Books; Reading
MY neighbor's books sit primly in a row --
Dickens in blue, and Thackeray in red,
Like Orphans dressed in their asylum gowns,
With only numbers to distinguish them:
And, like the Orphans, they are coldly clean;
No dog's-eared pages there -- no pencil marks;
Even the dust is kept from them by glass;
And there they sit, encloistered and aloof.
My books are not like that; they are my friends;
They share my sorrow and they share my joy --
Live as I live, and show their age, like me;
Here's one has covers faded from the sun --
It shared my holiday along the shore;
This one companions me at breakfast-time,
Each morning as I take my hasty meal,
And gives me courage for the day's despite.
(It's rather spotty, true; but, ah, so dear!)
And each one has its own distinctive dress;
A set of poets? Never!
Keats and Poe --
Imagine them attired in uniform!
My Keats wears purple, and my Poe wears gray;
And both are marked with many pencilings,
And open at my favorite passages
With sweet garrulity.
You lonely books
Upon my neighbor's shelves, I pity you!
Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!
Other Poems of Interest...
TWO SONNETS: 1 by DAVID LEHMAN
THE ILLUSTRATION?ÇÖA FOOTNOTE by DENISE LEVERTOV
FALLING ASLEEP OVER THE AENEID by ROBERT LOWELL
POETRY MACHINES by CATE MARVIN
LENDING LIBRARY by PHYLLIS MCGINLEY
STAR OF BETHLEHEM by FLORENCE VAN CLEVE