Preservation

[Peder]

Preservation​

Books come to hand, second-hand in fact,
From an estate, a remanent estate being sold off,
Once carefully selected by a sentient mind
Selected again by a random book hunter surprised
By admiration for the collection's fragments he now
Brings home again as jewels for a different collection
Preserving a thread of literary excellence perhaps
For yet a third literary-minded person eventually
To wonder again at the personal source of such bounty
And preserve it for yet a further generation wondering
Whose were all the collectors' hands that preserved
The fine condition hand-to-hand smudge-free
Reverencing content, revered foundations
For revived appreciation anew.​

Peder
11-1-11​

 

[pontalba]

Peder, you've caught the exact mood. I've often considered the past lives of the books we purchase. And their future lives as well.

 

[Peder]

Many thanks, pontalba.
A particular feeling came over me yesterday as I held a particular book in my hand and thought of the empty, now near-desolate, house from which it came.

 

[MadBen]

Hmm we have some really old poetry books in the house (about a hundred years old) and I feel a certain reverence when taking them out. On the other hand, I had the thought that sometimes burning books might be a good idea just to prevent them from becoming toilet paper. That just wouldn't seem right.

Ah, here I am thinking all kinds of weird thoughts when I should actually be commenting on your poem. I really like it, it just "feels right" and inspires thought. The physical structure is mostly good but in my opinion you still tend to break some of the lines in places where it doesn't feel just right:

Selected again by a random book hunter surprised
By admiration for the collection's fragments he now
Brings home again as jewels for a different collection

I personally would break this up as follows:

Selected again by a random book hunter
Surprised by admiration for the collection's fragments
He now brings home again as jewels for a different collection

I don't think it's a problem for the lines to have differing lengths.

Anyway, good one and I'm looking forward to reading more of your writings ^^

 

[Peder]

Selected again by a random book hunter surprised
By admiration for the collection's fragments he now
Brings home again as jewels for a different collection

I personally would break this up as follows:

Selected again by a random book hunter
Surprised by admiration for the collection's fragments
He now brings home again as jewels for a different collection

I don't think it's a problem for the lines to have differing lengths.

Anyway, good one and I'm looking forward to reading more of your writings ^^

Yup, you are right. Breaking lines is a pain, and giving less concern to the line length does permt the more natural reading that you propose. I'll have to try to figure out just why I did it the way I did. If I were good at it, I would know the asnwer.

Thanks very much reading and for your comment
Peder
:flowers: