They would sit, facing each other, each Friday lunchtime.
Books between them at a reading table on the balcony.
She was a seamstress from Perpignan named Juliette.
Him, a trainee accountant from Andover, John-Anthony.

Their mutual interest in each other began to peak.
Both loving books you see, a library was their thing.
The Dewey Decimal system became a map to romance.
And amongst the shelves they had quite a fling.

Fittingly, they met first in 327, International Relations.
But furthered their dalliance in 710, Fine Arts.
It was in 170, Ethics, where they nearly consummated.
Then in 570 Biology, irrevocably they joined hearts.

Each loved to enthuse about a favourite book.
Encouraging and enticing the other to take it on loan.
She praised the works of Zadie Smith and Donna Tartt.
He promoted Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

They would lead one another down the aisles.
To faraway places driven by flights of fancy.
Exploring books about Geography and Marriage.
Imagining holidaying in the South Seas as fiancés.

While John-Anthony preferred 796, Outdoor Sports.
Juliette took him to 794, as she loved Indoor Games of Skill.
He began to share her passion, devoting his time to Bridge.
When he first learned to win a trick it gave her such a thrill.

However, his learning of Bridge came with such a cost.
The strict librarian told them sternly to ‘shush’.
As a library lover John-Anthony was mortified.
Juliette was taken-a-back and began to blush.

All was not the same in the library from them onwards.
Their romantic interludes had to be curtailed.
This journey of their blossoming courtship.
Had very nearly been derailed.

However, a nearby bookshop became their rendezvous.
They met appropriately amid two romantic digests.
Between Pride and Prejudice and Wuthering Heights.
Him with an intense ardour and she with heaving breasts.

Love knew no bounds as they enacted these romantic tales.
He became the dashingly good-looking Mr Darcy.
She flourished as the lovely Elizabeth Bennet.
Neither with a thought of ever being a divorcee.

They married and lived happily ever after,
Just as romantic characters often do.
They opened a small bookshop together.
And as they role played their family grew and grew.