Tuesday, December 06, 2011

 

Clouded and Confused

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882), My Books:
Sadly as some old mediaeval knight
    Gazed at the arms he could no longer wield,
    The sword two-handed and the shining shield
    Suspended in the hall, and full in sight,
While secret longings for the lost delight
    Of tourney or adventure in the field
    Came over him, and tears but half concealed
    Trembled and fell upon his beard of white,
So I behold these books upon their shelf,
    My ornaments and arms of other days;
    Not wholly useless, though no longer used,
For they remind me of my other self,
    Younger and stronger, and the pleasant ways,
    In which I walked, now clouded and confused.
Longfellow was 74 years old when he wrote this.

Anonymous (English, 17th century), Portrait of a Bibliophile



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