Thursday, April 02, 2009

Buy a Poem, Read a Poem

Another Poetry Month celebration is being held, this one by our bookstore, Chumley & Pepys. For the month of April, our poetry catalogue is on sale at 30% off. Come over and take a look; there's a little bit of everything there, lots to search through!



And in celebration of the joys of selling and buying and coveting books, here's a fun poem by the entertaining versifier Eugene Field (1850-1895)





The Bibliomaniac's Prayer


Keep me, I pray, in wisdom's way
That I may truths eternal seek;
I need protecting care to-day,--
My purse is light, my flesh is weak.
So banish from my erring heart
All baleful appetites and hints
Of Satan's fascinating art,
Of first editions, and of prints.
Direct me in some godly walk
Which leads away from bookish strife,
That I with pious deed and talk
May extra-illustrate my life.

But if, O Lord, it pleaseth Thee
To keep me in temptation's way,
I humbly ask that I may be
Most notably beset to-day;
Let my temptation be a book,
Which I shall purchase, hold, and keep,
Whereon when other men shall look,
They'll wail to know I got it cheap.
Oh, let it such a volume be
As in rare copperplates abounds,
Large paper, clean, and fair to see,
Uncut, unique, unknown to Lowndes*.


*William Thomas Lowndes (d. 1843), famous English bibliographer.

5 comments:

  1. a book blogger's dream poem...thanks for posting this. Love it!

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  2. This is fantastic! Thank you so much for sharing it. I'm going to print it out :)

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  3. Just wanted to let you know that you won the book over at my blog. I loved your story. When I get back from vacation I'll email you.

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  4. Serena, Iliana, Sandra - I thought this one was perfect for the likes of we book bloggers... ;)

    Heather - whoo hoo! Great news. Looking forward to hearing from you.

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Thanks for stopping by ~ I always enjoy hearing your comments so please feel free to leave some!