Librarian

I saw his inward soul today
Beneath the outward stoic face
Which up to then was all I’d seen
Each button done, each hair in place.
More proper man I never saw,
So dignified and so austere.
Yet in him beats a heart so warm
Beneath the frozen hard veneer.
I dropped my book. He picked it up
And gently laid it on the stack.
I barely dared to raise my eyes
For fear he’d see how much I lack.
“You clumsy oaf!” I inward thought,
“This dapper man will surely shy
From fumbling arms and messy dress
And barren and alone you’ll die.”
But, then he stole my heart away
With secret grin as rare as gold.
A precious moment just for me.
A spur of hope to make me bold.
Throat locked, the words just would not come.
Until, “Thank you.” I meekly squeaked.
Flush-faced, I turned my head away.
As through my eye salt water leaked.
I feel so terrified I’ll die
Alone and withered on the vine
With head in book and house of cats
Until I’m laid in box of pine.
So self-defeating is this fear
Sweet dapper men all walk away.
“Shy one, shy one” of Yeats’ rhyme
I have become my own cliché.