Library Coffee

“All beverages must have a lid or top,”
The sign at the library reads,
But as long as I’m drinking,
I’ll read the sign thinking,
That coffee is still best uncropped.

The way the heat swirls,
In caffeine black curls,
Is only beaten in beauty
By the ghostly steam rising
From the bitter tasting whole;
Always surprising when the cup is full.

How, then, sinful should it sound
To cover that art when books are around,
And every thought is in need of inspiration?
Using white plastic lids soundly forbids
The experience of that visual sensation,
And libraries ought not to house such hostility.