The library girl

Sits alone, absorbed in ghostly in ghostly
      ancient Greeks--
In the deathless thoughts of what once
      was
Passionate Sappho or truthful Sophocles;

Trying  tirelessly to chaunt their
       language,
To revive their gleam out of dry pages,
For long hours devoting to get back, back
       to them,
As she finally falls asleep in her
       exhaustion;

A homage is paid to the old 'Glory' in nap
       meditation,
And as this heavenly beauty travels
       through history's clock,
Safe in library warmth from the
       discomfort of winter snow,


The desk-lamp twinkles: It's time to go!
                

                                           ­     by
                                  Hakim H. Kassim.
                                 (d. November, 1989)