Explore "My Books" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
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.