He came at night to each of us asleep

And trained us in the virtues we most lacked.

Me he admonished to return his stare

Correctly, without fear.  Unless I could,

Unblinking, more and more incline

Toward a deep unblinkingness of his,

He would not let me rest.  Outside

In the dark of the world, at the foot

Of the library steps, there lurked

A Mercury of rust, its cab half-lit.

(Two worldly forms who huddled there

Knew what they meant.  I had no business



With the things they knew.  Nor did I feel myself

Drawn back through Circulation into Reference,

Until I saw how blue I had become, by virtue

Of its five TVs, their monitors abuzz with is's



Etymologies...)