A study carrel, one must own,
Is not put there for carving,
Although experience has shown
This law's not worth a farthing
Among the students who have grown
Accustomed to such haunts, to hone
Their knives: we only can bemoan
The acts of these abusers.
A book, as all should know, is to
Be read, not annotated
With squiggle, line, and curlicue
By readers. We've berated
This tendency for decades. Do
They hear? Could be: alas, each new
Year summons a replacement crew.
But beggars can't be choosers.
The wear and tear a library
Must face, we rather wouldn't;
But patrons, while they should agree,
Do often as they shouldn't.
We suffer, then, incessantly,
But though we're sorely tested, we
Refuse to suffer silently,
Forsaking the perusers.
For there are many, too, who come
And use the resource proper,
And feel just as we, when some
That don't come all a-cropper.
They find such actions just as dumb
As we: they make us glad, not glum,
And join our prayer to the scum
Who don't: shape up, you losers!
Originally published in SUL News Notes, November 4, 1994.
c 1994, 1995 Fleabonnet Press for the author.