Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Suzzallo, a place of worship

I can't
remember
when it was
the last time
I walked
these stacks.
The smell
of nineteenth-
century
tomes:
the sound
of dark-
ness. The touch
of cracked
leath-
er. The taste.
Up
and down
the aisles
of centuries.
The feel
of dead
people
seeing
me.

-Esther Altshul Helfgott

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Esther,
What a wonderful place you wrote about! I love the way you put it, "The feel of dead people seeing me." I feel that whenever I am in the 4th floor Dewey stacks; I know they all see me up there.
Barbara