Poems (Jordan)/In a Library
IN A LIBRARY
Embalmed herein the thoughts of sages,
Retain their bodies down the ages;
And hither we may come,
And choosing from these wondrous pages,
May list the one our wish engages,
Through lips Death cannot dumb.
Retain their bodies down the ages;
And hither we may come,
And choosing from these wondrous pages,
May list the one our wish engages,
Through lips Death cannot dumb.
There is a scent which overpowers
Exhaling from the long-dead hours,—
Here ravished from their tomb!
Or as if strangely mingled flowers—
Plucked from the Past's o'erhanging bowers,—
Were vased within this room!
Exhaling from the long-dead hours,—
Here ravished from their tomb!
Or as if strangely mingled flowers—
Plucked from the Past's o'erhanging bowers,—
Were vased within this room!