[The municipal building stood square in my dream]

The municipal building stood square in my dream:

a white stone façade of Edwardian baroque.

In letters of gold from an architrave block

PUBLIC LIBRARY winked with a welcoming gleam.

Within, book in hand, I looked down at a page

which sang to me likewise in letters of gold

“If it’s hell to be young it’s the end being old

so gather the roses of ripe middle age.”