A Library Sonnet

I've neglected this blog lately. I have been lacking bloggish inspiration, but I'm hoping to post properly again soon. In the meantime, what I have been writing in the last couple of months is lots of sonnets (I find the satisfaction of churning out metre and rhyme quite soothing), and I wrote one about working in libraries. It’s not a literary achievement, but I was mildly pleased, so I'm posting it here to get back into the swing of blogging.

(A note on metre: I lack the discipline for iambic pentameter, so I often write in tetrameter. There’s a reason this isn't so common – it’s cumbersome and the rhymes get buried!)

Readers, here I sit installed, and ready for your query

Your ally in discovery and resource navigation

I’ll point the way to what you need, from art to quantum theory

(I also offer sympathy, and cheerful conversation).

Come, call on me in tracking down some old, elusive tome

You’re never interrupting me; it’s what I'm here to do

I’ll scour corners hunting titles far adrift from home

And when we find that tiresome book, I'm just as pleased as you.

What I do here may not look hard (compared to your exams)

It’s true, right now I'm stamping – not an onerous affair

Last year I wrestled Sophocles; today it’s paper jams

But library folk are turning cogs you didn't know were there.

The fairies of the stacks; custodians of information

Equipping you as best we can, from start to graduation.