THE LIBRARY IN TIMBUKTU

by  Neeli Cherkovski

we know what books

maintain, and old brittle

manuscripts, every word

from a scribe waiting for sublime guidance

to make the proper lines

grand calligraphers painting

in Arabic script, O Light!

explain and

offer to guide

because we are

often alone

and we die,

but when the library

is torched

those lovely forms are

taken out

forever

and will not be seen

either in the land of the living

or in the world of the dead