As you peruse those heavy, dusty volumes

With tense attention hour after hour,

Whilst totally indifferent to me,—

To me, who sees in you the book of books,

To whom the very cover of this book,

Your outward aspect, is more interesting

Than the contents of all books ever printed.

Is it a wonder I would like to build

A mammoth pile of all the books there are

And let the raging fire consume them all?