Beware, when entering, pebble your path,
do not wander or rebel by mind-drifting into
volumes or tomes. Beware, do not listen
to the soft tongue of the tempter, the keeper
of keys, the ancient bewitcher, the shadow
repeater of archaic rhymes. Beware of him
and his velvety words, always make sure
that you learn how to retreat from the maze
of all what is written. Beware ,before it fills
up your mind. Beware of the windowless
walls, beware of bulwarks of books, beware
not to be lured by assurance that you, you
as a reader may chose, and return from
its shadowless halls, my friend beware of
the library’s gift, and reflect what is solid
and real, today and tomorrow with us.
Today Kim hosts at dVerse, where she asks us to write about a building, and for me the choice was easy, I had to write about the imaginary library that I have created for my librarian who seems more and more ghost like the more I write.
March 26, 2024
Björn Rudbergs writings 
I am loving this aged librarian series Bjorn. Too tempting not to get lost in that maze of books. Your description makes him interesting:
to the soft tongue of the tempter, the keeper
of keys, the ancient bewitcher, the shadow
repeater of archaic rhymes.
That maze of books is way too tempting i believe….
It had to be a library, Björn, one of my favourite places to spend a few hours, especially if the aged librarian is around. I love that you call him ‘the keeper of keys, the ancient bewitcher, the shadow repeater of archaic rhymes.’ It’s easy to lose yourself in a library!
Indeed it is, it is easy to be bewitched by a place like that.
“beware
not to be lured by assurance that you, you
as a reader may choose”
This is sitting with me.
Once caught in its grip, you don’t have a choice.
a perfect compliment to the aged librarian – in fact, this poem speaks with interchangeable skin, sinew, muscles and bone – and let’s not forget, the teeth – softly chattering, whispering of the mysteries that cast their spells within –
well done, this poem is so richly evocative
Thank you so much, I wrote it in a hurry just imagining the way we get entangled in books.
the spontaneity is perfect – sometimes that’s the best way, from the heart and free flowing 🙂
A bewitching maze you have created, so apt for the aged librarian! I love your repitition of “beware” but a true reader would not be deterred by your warnings.
I think a true adventurer in books would be drawn to a sign of warning….
Indeed.
my kind of maze.
a maze to a-maze
👍
Most bewitching
🧙🧙🧙
Forget the silver spoon, Bjorn, you were born with a velvet tipped pen in your mouth!
It is a great talent to so effortlessly craft such an interesting piece. I, too, like the repetition of ‘Beware’, it casts a sinister shade, though, of course, books are solid and real too 🙂
They do have the possibility to pull you in though
This is a great poem, Bjorn. I love how you used the enticement of learning like sailors listening to the sirens song!
Yes the library is packed with sirens.
It is, isn’t it!
omg! The image is as precarious as the poem. What a team-up.
much♡love
Thank you, I enjoyed doing the image with AI
I want to connect with a university library about an hour’s drive from here — to get access to scholarly articles too expensive for me to download from home, maybe do some geneology research too. I wonder how those huge repositories of books are doing now in the bookless age, among the vastly unread. Are they becoming ghosts too? We’ll see. Your librarian reads like the newspaper man I once was.
I paid a visit to the royal library in Stockholm, and it seems like the books are doing well… even old newspapers were accessible to read…
Better to be lost in the maze of a library than the futile scrolling through misinformation on a social media site.
Indeed it is, though there is misinformation in books as well, and before we learned to deal with a new media it lead to war….
When we only had books as reference, we were taught not to take only one source of information as gospel. That piece of advice seems not to be passed on these days
Good choice!! I can think of no better place to be lost. Reminds me of Powell’s Books in Portland Oregon. It take up an entire city block. Sisters waited outside for me but I couldn’t be found!
That sounds like a wonderful place… and I remember being lost in bookstores too.
Of course you chose the library! Oh, it is too tempting to pass. I love this one, Björn!
To me the choice was easy… and it sounds tempting.
Yes to both things. 🙂
I love how the poem can so easily be and in a way is like a poster hung before the entry, or a verse on the back of an invitation card.
Yes, I thought about that too…
Has a very Borges feel to it. If words form the fabric of the universe, what happens when they have double meanings?
Wonderfully, lyrical, haunting and mysterious, a place I think I’d like to visit!
I assume the old librarian is the tempter…and one might never find their way out!
There are worse places to be lost…(K)
“that you learn how to retreat from the maze
of all what is written.”
an erudite warning not least for poets who follow in the footsteps and yet have to find our own way, our own voice
“Beware, do not listen
to the soft tongue of the tempter, the keeper
of keys, the ancient bewitcher, the shadow
repeater of archaic rhymes.”
I can see him sitting bent over, and whispering.
Too late I fear, I have been drawn in 🙂