| |
| GIVE me the room whose every nook | |
| Is dedicated to a book: | |
| Two windows will suffice for air | |
| And grant the light admission there,— | |
| One looking to the south, and one | 5 |
| To speed the red, departing sun. | |
| The eastern wall from frieze to plinth | |
| Shall be the Poet’s labyrinth, | |
| Where one may find the lords of rhyme | |
| From Homer’s down to Dobson’s time; | 10 |
| And at the northern side a space | |
| Shall show an open chimney-place, | |
| Set round with ancient tiles that tell | |
| Some legend old, and weave a spell | |
| About the firedog-guarded seat, | 15 |
| Where, musing, one may taste the heat: | |
| Above, the mantel should not lack | |
| For curious and bric-á-brac,— | |
| Not much, but just enough to light | |
| The room up when the fire is bright. | 20 |
| The volumes on this wall should be | |
| All prose and all philosophy, | |
| From Plato down to those who are | |
| The dim reflections of that star; | |
| And these tomes all should serve to show | 25 |
| How much we write—how little know; | |
| For since the problem first was set | |
| No one has ever solved it yet. | |
| Upon the shelves along the west | |
| The scientific books shall rest; | 30 |
| Beside them, History; above,— | |
| Religion,—hope, and faith, and love: | |
| Lastly, the southern wall should hold | |
| The story-tellers, new and old; | |
| Haroun al Raschid, who was truth | 35 |
| And happiness to all my youth, | |
| Shall have the honored place of all | |
| That dwell upon the sunny wall; | |
| And with him there shall stand a throng | |
| Of those who help mankind along | 40 |
| More by their fascinating lies | |
| Than all the learning of the wise. | |
| |
| Such be the library; and take | |
| This motto of a Latin make | |
| To grace the door through which I pass: | 45 |
| Hic habitat Felicitas! | |
| |
