Library Reflections

By Brooke Kohl

Fall turns to winter as bright eyes contemplate the constellations

Aries and his horns, Pegasus and his powerful wings 

The light shining from the majestic witnesses of creation 

Oh, to feel yourself a tiny speck under such great things

The history above you makes your feet quiver 

The coming winter’s chill makes your body shiver 

To know so little and want to know much more 

To learn, isn’t that what this world is for? 

To know history by heart and have the future on your tongue 

To feel infinitely old while at the same time so young 

To walk the streets of Rashi, Plato, Homer, and more greats 

To hold history tightly despite its heavy weight

To stride through life with a head full of facts 

To move from place to place leaving impacts 

To be bold, confident, sure of yourself 

To have read and internalized each book on your shelf 

The night sky shifts with the seasons while you stay the same 

Empty mind full of thoughtless thoughts and passionless emotions 

Your eye is on the past as you walk the present like a game 

Oh, to what tasks can you devote your devotions? 

Libraries with miles of words you should read

Books full of fun and information you need 

But at the promise of knowledge, you just walk away 

You know what you’re lacking; how can you say it’s okay? 

You don’t know the history of the Romans and the Greeks 

If you read a famous poem, you can’t say who speaks 

You think you know Rashis, but there are so many you don’t 

You want to learn so much, but you know that you won’t 

You want to create worlds with words from your hands 

But you can’t get beyond this world’s vastness and sands 

You want to answer questions and riddles galore 

But to do that, you need much more knowledge in store 

Spring is melting winter’s frost on empty mental bookshelves 

Books froze and then shattered, shards scattered out of reach 

The ocean of knowledge is where you know you need to delve 

You stand apprehensively as waves of facts pound your beach

To sit and quietly study an academic book 

To go to an art museum and ponder and look 

To open a concordance and analyze a verse 

To visit another culture and let yourself immerse 

To write stories in your mind and books by hand 

To grasp what you never thought you’d understand 

To sit and study all day and into the night 

To speak with knowledge and know that you’re right 

So why haven’t you done this; why is your mind still blank? 

Why do your defenses bristle and line up like soldiers in rank? 

Why do the books that you own remain undisturbed? 

Why do you act like your lacking leaves you unperturbed? 

Spring is turning to summer as indifference follows stress 

But go one step at a time, and maybe you’ll learn 

The world feels like it’s dying, things are a mess 

So know the past and shape the present so the future doesn’t burn 

History is in the sky, but you can learn it from beneath 

The future is just beyond your grasp, catch it with gritted teeth 

Seashells on the beach brought by waves of knowledge cut your feet 

No one ever said that learning so much would be neat 

But bloodstains are in your history, and in the present there are more

Let that lifeline bubble up, remember what you’re learning for 

Impurity is rampant as the world crumbles from within 

The only way to get ahead is to let yourself begin 

I’m not sure what I’m doing and I’m not sure why I’m here 

I have no goals and I have no direction in which to steer 

But I know I want to learn and I know how hard that is to do 

It’s a lifelong task to strive for, and I’m sharing it with you 

Learn our history, learn our sky, be knowledgeable and wise 

Let the blood of people past be your guidance, be your eyes 

I don’t know how to study and I don’t know how to know 

But I do know that we need to learn, so ready? Set? Go!