Oh this is great fun. Like finding a jewel in a heap of dust...Old
dictionaries are fascinating...They're like wounded animals that we simply
must save--and not put to sleep. But yes, the narrator in this poem
deserves a new one since s/he has such a passion for language!
Terrie
> 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.
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