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JOY OF READING

 JOY OF READING

Written by Joan Rowden Hart


I sit in my office and look at my treasure

Stacked row upon row, the source of my pleasure

There is wealth beyond measure everywhere that I look

So many shelves, filled with book after book.


So many words that tell so many stories

So many volumes just full of God’s glory

So many reminders of our history and then

So many narratives of women and men


Who have experienced life with all of its trials,

And still write the words that will cause me to smile,

Who have struggled with failure and rose up again

And made me forget my own troubles and pain.


So many thoughts, written with deep meditation

Shared with those who will read with great contemplation

Thoughts that I by myself could never create

Are given to me in abundance so great


Free for the taking, but not enough time

To just sit and enjoy other’s thoughts so sublime.

There’s so much to learn hidden deep in those tomes

Of other men’s travels while we stay in our homes


There is poetry and mystery and beauty so rare

There are cookbooks and joke books, and this is my prayer

That I live long enough to enjoy them all

As I look at the bookshelves adorning my wall


So let me die happy with a book in my hand

As I cross that wide river to heaven’s fair land

As I breathe my last breath, let me take one more look

And say Please wait Lord while I read one more book.


©Joan Rowden Hart 2017

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