Guesswork

From “On Reading When You Are Old”:

“... you look down to see
what it says and find that none
of it makes sense because there were
no words, or only words so long

as you didn't try to read them,
and the knowledge brings you back,
and you wake in the early light
and look about you and see a book

on the bedside table with a bookmark
set somewhere near the beginning,
and you realize, how you couldn't say,
that you are the solitary reader.”

From “Book V”:

“... A book
knows that to touch others

you must fill yourself out,
be all that you are.

Pull down a book anywhere
from the shelf, and the rest

will breathe a long sigh
into the space where it was.

Read in any direction you like,
a row of books has two ends.”