Explore "The Boston Athenaeum" by Amy Lowell on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Thou dear and well-loved haunt of happy hours, / How often in some distant gallery, / Gained by a little painful spiral stair, / Far from the halls and corridors where throng / The crowd of casual readers, have I passed / Long, peaceful hours seated on the floor / Of some retired nook, all lined with books, / Where reverie and quiet reign supreme! / Above, below, on every side, high shelved / From careless grasp of transient interest, / Stand books we can but dimly see, their charm / Much greater that their titles are unread; / While on a level with the dusty floor / Others are ranged in orderly confusion, / And we must stoop in painful posture while / We read their names and learn their histories.
The little gallery winds round about / The middle of a most secluded room, / Midway between the ceiling and the floor.