"All that mankind has done, thought, gained or been: it is lying as in magic preservation in the pages of books."
-Thomas Carlyle

by Paul Lytle

"If frown is shown then
I will know that you are no dreamer."

     Was ever I so young to think the sky
was just without my reach, and if I leapt
I might could touch it — if I leapt so high?

Was I so young? I thought that while I slept
faeries danced in circles 'round my bed.
Immersed in magic, how might I have wept?

Was ever I so young that in this head
did linger arcane spells? They fell behind.
One day, I found those childish things were dead.

     A jaded man you took, who did not find
the magic lingering, seeping through the seams.
I see it 'gain; how did I grow so blind?

Was ever I so old that all the dreams
were lost? You youthen me — or so it seems.