Atrium at the Boston Public Library

by Doug Holder

I sit in limbo
between both worlds
looking at the perpetual
ejaculation of
the fountain
under a shock
of blue sky
in a gap
between wings
old and new
a pause from
the confluence
of past and present
watching the ivy
grip the
old edifice
the clouds
drift
shadows flit
on the pavement
casual and transient.

Still I know
I can only
walk from old to new
that the brittle tomes
will decay
so I
will sit
and pause
for just
this day.

Bacchante and Infant Faun, Boston Public Library courtyard, visitors on balcony (1896)

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Doug Holder is the founder of the Ibbetson Street Press and co-president of the New England Poetry Club. His own work has appeared in the Worcester Review, Rattle, Molecule, Toronto Quarterly, and many others. Holder is the arts/editor for The Somerville Times and teaches creative writing at Endicott College.

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