Tribute from Local Poet

Libraries and Me
by
“Jesse” James

Truth and Wisdom. Wisdom and Truth. Fact of Fiction. Words put together, then said aloud and then become thoughts and ideas that enter into people‟s lives and minds which can and do change our worlds. The wonders of inspirations, the writing down of things felt, thought about, digested, then coming out in language on the printed page or the lap top screen for all who care to read them when and if they can.

People. All people. Men, women, boys and girls thinking thoughts. Living lives. Their lives. Other‟s lives through other people‟s thoughts and ideas that can and do become books that arrive here and there and are put in rows on shelves by author or title, in sections or in alphabetical order, waiting, just waiting for whom?

For you, of course, out there to come here, to get interested, to follow your instincts, your interests and come here where knowledge never stops, where the sidewalks of adventure and love and the mysteries of life and death thrive in your mind and never, ever end.

Come on. Go ahead. Try it just once. Take a chance. Stop. Look. Listen. What do you hear? The wondrous sounds of words whispering between covers, pages being turned, waiting, just waiting for an interested mind, a questioning, „Why or why not?‟ to be uttered.

Quiet. A door opening. Footsteps passing by-going to the stacks, the books-on-line-or in person, smelling the smells of learning and knowledge that have been waiting, just waiting for just a chance such as this. Touch their covers, read their titles, go with them where you will, it does not matter, you are surrounded by all that you love and want to know.

So relax. Take a breath. Find a chair. Get a book. Ready? Set? Begin? You know the magic words: „Long ago and Far Away and Once Upon A Time‟. Do it now. Do it often. Run. Do not walk to this very special place. Go to. Come there. Visit your Walpole Public Library.

Why? Because I say it is So.