| In a Book-shop |
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All day I serve among the volumes telling
Old tales of love and war and high romance;
Good company, God wot, is in them dwelling,
Brave knights who dared to scorn untoward chance.
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King Arthur—Sidney—Copperfield—the daring
And friendly souls of Meredith’s bright page—
The Pilgrim on his darksome journey faring,
And Shakespeare’s heroes, great in love and rage.
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Fair ladies, too—here Beatricè smiling
Through hell leads Dante to the happy stars;
And Heloise, the cruel guards beguiling,
With Abelard makes mock of convent bars.
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Yet when night comes I leave these folks with pleasure
To open Love’s great summer-scented tome
Within whose pages—precious beyond measure—
My own White Flower Lady hath her home.
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