Happy that invention: now the least of men
Might participate in the secrets
The powerful kept to themselves;
A pauper may know what it is
To be a potentate; the most miserable
In durance vile may sense that freedom
Denied them in their world of confinement;
The victims of injustice, always there,
Might read of Justice and her triumphs,
And hope she’ll notice them, and hear them too;
The hungry may read of plenty,
Those without love in their lives
May read about what it is
To be loved by another, and hope;
Books do all of this—and more.