Through love of that story of stories I took,
A love of all things in the shape of a book.

A child sees all things in a sanctified light,
I've lost that except that in books I delight.

At the sight of a volume I have such a feeling,
Exactly like love for an ideal or being.

A book is a book though there be nothing in it,
Even a ledger book to me has merit.

I love them around me on shelves and on tables,
And although I don't read in them as much as I'm able,
Yet the fact remains that I think of them still.

Yet it's more than a desire for mere possessions,
There's something deeper to this passion,
For from a mere book, the most perfect art form,
A love of all truthing and wisdom is born.

From glorious authors from Heaven above,
Through stories which we must ever love.

It's a true love and not in the least a bit blinky,
To find cloth and paper and ink very dinky,
A beauty outside which so takes the soul,
Yet the beauty within is the cause of it all.

Paul Frame,
Bramham Court,
South Shields.