Saturday, February 26, 2011

A Bibliophile's Poem: Robert Louis Stevenson

Posted: 26 Feb 2011


This is a poem found anonymously handwritten on a slip of paper in a turn-of-the-century book. Perhaps original and unpublished since my research cannot locate it anywhere:

Dingy was the book-stall
There in Holborn town;
All was rust and moth and dust,
Cobwebs hanging down.
In the darksome passage,
Dreary as a tomb,
From the frame, the sun in vain
Strove to quell the gloom;
Till the bookman's gentle voice
Sounded in my ear,
"Robert Louis Stevenson
Used to come in here."

All radiant was the book-stall
There in Holborn town;
Sunny breeze from summer seas
Swept the cobwebs down,
Filled the darksome passage
With sweet scent of bloom,
Charm and grace transformed the place
To a splendid room,
Garnished fit for king or queen
Princess or chevalier,
For the bookman's gentle voice
Had sounded in my ear,
"Robert Louis Stevenson
Used to come in here."

Henry Mirrisa, TheBookScene.com

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