ALONG the crowded shelves the lamplight falls, In arabesques and patterns and dim gules, Caressing crabbed handiwork of schools Long dead and long forgotten. One recalls Inscriptions on old tombstones blurred with mould, Petitioning a glance from passers-by. But there where Rabelaisian volumes lie, Flanked by Brantôme and Villon, bound in gold, There still, life, love, and wine run merrily. Gargantua jesus with young Pantagruel In some Tourainian castle oriel, Defying Death and Time's slow alchemy. Above the tiers with carven, sightless eyes, Milton, in scorn of French frivolity, Gazes on Satan hurled from Paradise. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ANOTHER SONG WITHOUT WORDS by PAUL VERLAINE HEREDITY by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH OUR GOOD PRESIDENT by PHOEBE CARY THE WHITE MAN'S BURDEN by RUDYARD KIPLING ODE ON THE DEATH OF HIS FATHER by JORGE MANRIQUE SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: DAISY FRASER by EDGAR LEE MASTERS |