Books, books, books!I had found the secret of a garret roomPiled high with cases in my father’s name;Piled high, packed large,–where, creeping in and outAmong the giant fossils of my past,Like some small nimble mouse between the ribsOf a mastodon, I nibbled here and thereAt this or that box, pulling through the gap,In heats of terror, haste, victorious joy,The first book first. And how I felt it beatUnder my pillow, in the morning’s dark,An hour before the sun would let me read!My books!

Books, books, books!I had found the secret of a garret roomPiled high with cases in my father’s name;Piled high, packed large,–where, creeping in and outAmong the giant fossils of my past,Like some small nimble mouse between the ribsOf a mastodon, I nibbled here and thereAt this or that box, pulling through the gap,In heats of terror, haste, victorious joy,The first book first. And how I felt it beatUnder my pillow, in the morning’s dark,An hour before the sun would let me read!My books!

– Elizabeth Barrett Browning –

Aurora Leigh

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