A Book’S Soliloquy

My lady’s room is full of books And easy-chairs and curtained nooks, And dainty tea-things on a table, And poetry, and tale, and fable, And on the hearth a crackling fire That welcome gives, and when you tire Of pleasant talk you still may find A tempting pasture where the mind May browse awhile, and read the pages Which poets wrote, or fools, or sages.

And here I come to ask a place Among these worthies, face to face! To be allowed on some low shelf To rest and dream, and pride myself On being in such company-- To watch fair women drinking tea; And if, perchance, on some lone day, The gentle mistress looks my way And softly says, “Now I shall see What’s going on in Arcady!” Then I’ll rejoice that I’m a book At which my lady deigns to look.