Ramblin'

Graduate Student. Writer. Mountain lover. Drinker of Coffee. Over-thinker.

Loves Jesus, libraries, the dog, old family photographs, Washington D.C., and a handful of really just wonderful people.

weisse wiese: in the library, by charles simic

weissewiese:

There’s a book called
‘A Dictionary of Angels’
No one has opened it in fifty years, 
I know, because when I did, 
The covers creaked, the pages
Crumbled. There I discovered

That angels were once as plentiful
As species of flies. 
The sky at dusk
Used to be thick with them. 
You had to wave both arms
Just to keep them away. 

Now the sun is shining
Through the tall windows. 
The library is a quiet place. 
Angels and gods huddled
In dark unopened books. 
The great secret lies
On some shelf Miss Jones
Passes every day on her rounds. 

She’s very tall, so she keeps
Her head tipped as if listening. 
The books are whispering. 
I hear nothing, but she does.

I memorized this and recited it to a class last year.  Beautiful poem, terribly nerve-wracking.

(via prettybooks)

  • 29 April 2012
  • 491