I am a mild man, you'll agree, But red my rage is,
When folks who borrow books from me Turn down their pages.
Or when a chap a book I lend, And find he's loaned
Without permission to a friend - As if he owned it.
But worst of all I hate those crooks (May hell-fires burn them!)Who beg the loan of cherished books And don't return them.
My books are tendrils of myself No shears can sever . . .
May he who rapes one from its shelf Be damned forever.
