{"id":3165,"date":"2017-06-05T13:30:50","date_gmt":"2017-06-05T19:30:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/libraryshenanigans.wordpress.com\/?p=3165"},"modified":"2026-02-11T22:58:59","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T22:58:59","slug":"poem-for-a-sculpture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/2017\/06\/05\/poem-for-a-sculpture\/","title":{"rendered":"poem for a sculpture"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Segal<\/a>
\nThis sculpture by George Segal sits on a bench at the Milton S. Eisenhower Library at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. An anonymous sestina was recently found in its hands:<\/p>\n

Dearest Muse,
\nI do not invoke but address you,
\nFor I wish to thank you for your watch
\nOver this humble (or not so) university library
\nWhere thousands and I have spent hours in study.
\nPlease accept this work.<\/p>\n

O, I cry to passerby\u2014have you seen her? Have you come inside? Have you
\nPaid a salute for a blessing on your work
\nFrom the Muse of the Milton S. Eisenhower Library?
\nThere she sits by the door to the quad, a study
\nIn worn marble on a plain iron bench. She keeps watch
\nOver all those who enter her domain. (They smile. Do I amuse?)<\/p>\n

She wears a watch
\nAnd goggles pushed up into her hair\u2014a practical Muse.
\nI imagine she has come fresh from diving, some study
\nOf fantastic ocean creatures or slowgrowing plankton\u2014the steady work
\nOf science as it takes the world and me and you
\nForward, sometimes through this library.<\/p>\n

Students, teachers, passerby\u2014there is so much to do in a good library.
\nSometimes you can even get done your work.
\nMore often you are caught in the endless flood of work, study,
\nEssay, friends, study, and the sun rises but not on D-level and you stare into dead space and muse
\nThat somewhere out there is the world (you’re bad at it) and friends (who all got this assignment done like competent people) and food (you don’t recall the taste of strawberries, nor the sound of water, the touch of grass\u2026) and you, in the dark, useless, last, you\u2014
\nRest. Restore. A library has comfortable chairs, and the Muse will keep watch.<\/p>\n

There is merit, too, perhaps more in lighter study:
\nHumanity in its prime, learning and laughing as they amuse
\nThemselves and each other at their work.
\nIn a word: people-watch!
\nJoining with near-stranger to work a project, emerging from the depths to unforeseen companionship, you
\nWill find no purer kinship than in a university library.<\/p>\n

And what they build\u2014oh, the works!
\nEndocrinal Effects of Neural Synapse Protease to Satanism in Dungeons & Dragons: A study;
\nBlueprints for a rocket, a solar shade, a perfect clockwork watch;
\nEssays and stories and poetry, the architecture itself for a whole new library\u2014
\nFor inspiration, above all, is the gift of a Muse.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Thanks, Esau Katz, for bringing this to my attention!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This sculpture by George Segal sits on a bench at the Milton S. Eisenhower Library at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. An anonymous sestina was recently found in its hands: Dearest Muse, I do not invoke but address you, For I wish to thank you for your watch Over this humble (or not so) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":413,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-shenanigans"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3q4oW-P3","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/413"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3165"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3920,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3165\/revisions\/3920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/ccspecialcollections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}