The Dictionary
Beyond my wheelie, a flutter of white in morning light.
My curiosity scatters tins
and nastier things to pull it free.
Stained, tattered binding split beyond repair.
Odham's Dictionary of the English Language.
Nay! Who would throw a dictionary away?
I carry it home, musty and battered,
pages spill like intestines from a wounded soldier.
I smooth it, soothe it, dust it, house it with friends,
support it with other dictionaries.
Etymological! A connoisseur's dictionary,
to be riffled at leisure, browsed in tranquility.
|