Thanks to poet Gary Margolis for sharing this library-related poem.
The Palm You See in the Question
You don’t want your local library
tracking you down
in heaven.
Sending a team of librarian
angels to recover,
retrieve the book
you didn’t think
any reader would miss.
Given how many times
you were allowed
to renew it.
How many years passed
without a patron
searching the stacks
for that missing one.
The book you took out
to take to a deserted
island. To have something
good to read, over
and over again.
For all the time it could take
to be found there.
Drawing a word in the sand.
Tearing your shirt
into sparkling strips.
As if you had some other place
to be. As if God needed
to find you, dozing under
a tree. The palm you see
in the question
What book would you bring
with you,
if you were stranded
on a deserted island?
If you had all the time
in this world and the next.
If you could fall asleep
with a book
on your chest.
-Gary Margolis
