Learning

Someone is snoring,
somehow lodged in with
the students, veterans, schoolteachers, and tourists
this unfortunate sleeper
need not feel rejection.
We all looked
peering over our musty books
the corners of our faces turning upward
and the mystery of comedy
turning a light on in our tired souls.
Even though we snicker,
and some of us condemn this ragamuffin dreamer
over our stacks of books
for the distraction when we have to learn,
this careless sleeper
snores on, and slowly
we let ourselves forget it into white noise.
Until tomorrow
when we will turn to our love
and say, "Yesterday, when I was in the library...
someone was sleeping."