Sheffield: The Graves Library

The very quiet of the library hall, the religious hush, and the escape from the melee of the street, make it hard not to think- to daydream- when not used to peace itself.   This poem was born out of that state, and the need for a distraction from study.

Nestled among these hallowed tomes

-A world of its own-

Journals, Travel Guides,

Dictionaries and Oversize,

340: Law, Dictionaries, Atlases,

Maps galore:

Fact, fiction, food for thought!

And the hush... , almost more

     Precious than all,

Emphasised by the clear, confident

     Crisp voice of the regular visitor,

And the lady behind the desk,

Released by the action of the words.

Shelf above shelf, book by book,

Pages hardly leafed until out of date,

     Relegated to worthlessness

     By academic rigour

     Or mere fashion and
The humming computer

Connected to the ‘real’ world

By a web lacking in the feel,

The smell or the crisp

Turn of the word.

You will be saved,

You will endure

Despite the change.