Hey I Want That Back
Take the shirt off my back
and you may have my heart,
mi casa es su casa
Whatever I have is yours
not as generosity,
it just is that way with us.
But, when I lend you a book
it is not a gift
and I expect its return.
Do you not find that strange
some fetish of selfishness,
or virulent bibliomania?
But a book is special
not because it is leather bound
nor with a gold embossed title.
A book that few have read
is as special as the
winner of the Pulitzer prize.
Books have a soul put there by
a person crying out
to share a human experience.
Such a plea can be honored
with a loan to others
that celebrates a voice.
The loan of a book
is so we can share
a common human experience.
This command invitation to share
comes with a notice that
the book has a home.
All I have is yours for the asking
but I have no right to give you a book
without the book’s permission.
Bring it back and we
shall share the voice from
its pages.
Doug Minnis
10/23/13