On Suave India Paper
.
My mother’s mother gave to me a fine
Blue King James Version of the Bible. Blue
Morocco leather, subtle blue, benign
With tastefulness (as if refinement drew
More power to truth) bound up a classic book
In cultured holiness. The paper, thin
In elegance, in smoothness, and strength, took
A gilded blue around its edges in
Attempt to make the outward beauty glow,
As if the Urim and the Thummim sat
Within, beside Christ’s sayings that we know
Were printed in his scarlet blood so that
The understated blues would grow more prized
To those of us who sought the civilized.