THE SCENT OF A LIBRARY

There is a town somewhere in China
    that likely has the fanciest, most-artistic,
          and sanitary library
in the whole world.

All kudos to the designers and builders
     for their creativity and ingenuity...

But to readers with poetic souls
     questions arise---

Are there quaint ivy-covered walls
     out front?

Is there an aged and poetic piece
     of wood, with its "patina," warmness,
and inviting ambience visible
            anywhere
in this whole  "work of art?

Are there old-timer librarians
     wearing ancient tweed jackets
or hand-knitted shawls...and
     lingering back in the "stacks"
to help book-searchers search and
    chat about favorite "best-sellers"
of half a century ago?

Are books of the whole world,
     (translated of course)
to be found in this artistic place---

such as...those of---Dostoevsky, Joyce,
    Nietzsche, Faulkner, Twain,
O'Brian, Austen, Tolstoy, Hardy, Bronte,
    McCullough, Caro, and Bellow...
and a few thousand more...

O but do you realize that more than
     just the verse in books...
libraries have a poetry of their own
    and it lingers in the air...

It is in the atmosphere in just about
     every library that ever existed;
over time, it is the bookish aroma
    of bindings and glue---
thousand year vellum slowly-but surely
    being consumed by
a million miniscule paper mites, so tiny
    as to almost not be there... but they
too...must  have their place
     in the shade.

Ah yes, every library needs that
    musty scent of books...

Can it be "blown in" to this one,
    somehow?
------------
MIL
18 JANUARY 18