A Book

I'm a strange contradiction, I'm new and I'm old,

I'm often in tatters, and off deek'd in gold;

Though I never could read, yet letter'd I'm found;

Though blind, I enlighten; though loose, I am bound-

I am always in black; and I'm always in white;

I am grave and i'm gay, I am heavy and light.

In form too I differ-I'm thick and I'm thin,

I've no flesh and no bones, yet I'm covered with skin;

I've more points than compass, more stops than the flute-

I sing without voice, speaking without confute;

I'm English, I'm German, I'm French and I'm Dutch;

Some love me too fondly; some slight me too much;

I often die soon, though I sometimes live ages,

And no monarch alive has so many pages.

(Poem by Hannah More)