Invasion!
by cricketjeff on August 23, 2009. © Jeff Green, All rights reserved
Like soldiers in an army some form neatly ordered rows
While others lie in ambush here and there
They’re hoping to ensnare me then they’ll deal their deadly blows
The tactics they employ are rarely fair
The uniforms of regulars attract the roving eye
While other individuals can make me laugh or cry
They number in their hundreds here, a thousand more next door
What chance have I against their massed attack
They line the shelves accusingly or pile up on the floor
My books declare they’re ready to strike back
They fight against my ignorance they educate by stealth
As week by week still more arrive and chip away my wealth
I can’t resist a Wisden or a dictionary of prose
A Shakespeare or all Dickens’ Christmas tales
I’ve shelves filled up with physics and a list of West-End shows
And Captain Ahab’s battle with the whales
Britannica and OED and Webster’s (leather bound)
There’s Wodehouse if I’m feeling light and Russell if profound
My Roget’s has seen better days, a history of art
And poetry from Rome to modern day
I’m pretty sure that “Ladybirds” were in it at the start
And I could never throw a book away
I’m overwhelmed by armies of the English written word
The heights of man’s creative soul and much more that’s absurd!
English