Infinite possibilities; worlds
and ideas, from
the next-door neighbour
infinity made still larger, for the erudite
mating of thoughts making
new thoughts
and adding to that already
groaning shelf

The thrill of adventure
seizes me oddly, even as I
sit on a cottonspun blanket, amidst
tales of loss, bravery and sacrifice
The hero’s adventure, echoing endlessly
in the paper-thin bards

No imaginative fantasies, I proclaim
I want substance, knowledge, truth
a well-researched tome, to move and
persuade me, and inform and guide me
Expansion of mind, not mindless expanses
of meandering ink on white paper

I reach my hand into the smell
of old page, and old wisdom, simmering
in the musty bookshelf, aching
to be released.