Visiting the Library in a Strange City by Franz Wright

The words reappear, slowly
developing
on a vast unknown
but precise number of pages

as I enter: the great building
empty of visitors
except for me, reading
the minds of the dead—

moving with exaggerated
and slow-motion care,
as when assigned to lead
the blind kid to his classroom

forty years ago,
down rows
between dusty volumes, a light
snow beginning.