30.07.2007, 10:26
The Public Library
Remote from the Arts, from books and luxuries,
A thoughtful couple lived the whole year round
Upon a quiet shore out on the Sound--
To leave its clovered green and foaming seas,
Its lowing kine, its roses and its trees,
Its rocky shores where peace and health abound,
To enter on the striving, bustling ground,
Manhattan opens up to lives like these.
But when they saw the library, happy pair!
And all its treasures vast broke on their sight,
The future spread its skies with visions rare,
And O the joy, the mystery and light,
That dwelt within the countless volumes there,
How beautiful it made the world that night!
Remote from the Arts, from books and luxuries,
A thoughtful couple lived the whole year round
Upon a quiet shore out on the Sound--
To leave its clovered green and foaming seas,
Its lowing kine, its roses and its trees,
Its rocky shores where peace and health abound,
To enter on the striving, bustling ground,
Manhattan opens up to lives like these.
But when they saw the library, happy pair!
And all its treasures vast broke on their sight,
The future spread its skies with visions rare,
And O the joy, the mystery and light,
That dwelt within the countless volumes there,
How beautiful it made the world that night!