A Trip to the Library Songtext

von Jane Krakowski

ILONA: (spoken) I didn't know what to do or where to go and somehow, my feet started walking down the street, across the bridge, past the Metropol Cinema, and do you know where?

SIPOS: No, where?

ILONA: Right into the library.

SIPOS: The library?

ILONA: Can you imagine?

SIPOS: Well, how did you like it?

ILONA: Oh, you've never seen such a place. So many books. So much marvel. And so quiet.

(sung)
And suddenly all of my confidence dribbled away with a pitiful plop.
My head was beginning to swim and my forehead was covered with cold perspiration.
I started to reach for a book and my hand automatically came to a stop.
I don't know how long I stood frozen, a victim of panic and mortification.

Oh, how I wanted to flee
When a kindly voice, a gentle voice whispered,
"Pardon me."

SIPOS: (spoken) Pardon me?

ILONA: Uh-huh.
And there was this dear, sweet, clearly-respectable, thickly-bespectacled man
Who stood by my side and quietly said to me, "Ma'am."
"Don't mean to intrude but I was just wondering, are you in need of some help?"
I said, "No. Yes, I am."

The next thing I know I'm sipping hot chocolate and telling my troubles to Paul
Whose tender brown eyes kept sending compassionate looks.
A trip to the library has made a new girl of me
For suddenly I can see the magic of books!

I have to admit, in the back of my mind I was praying he wouldn't get fresh,
And all of the while I was wondering why an illiterate girl should attract him.
And all of a sudden he said I couldn't go wrong with The Way of All Flesh.
Of course, it's a novel but I didn't know or I certainly wouldn't have smacked him.

Well, he gave me a smile that I couldn't resist
And I knew at once how much I liked this optometrist.

SIPOS: (spoken) Optometrist?

ILONA: (spoken) Optometrist.

(sung)
You know what this dear, sweet, slightly-bespectacled gentleman said to me next?
He said he could solve this problem of mine,
I said, "How?"
He said if I'd like he'd willing read to me some of his favorite things.
I said, "When?" He said, "Now."

His novel approach seemed highly suspicious and possibly dangerous too.
I told myself, "Wait. Think. Dare you go up to his flat?"
"What happens if things go wrong? It's obvious he's quite strong."
He read to me all night long. Now how about that?

It's hard to believe how truly domestic and happily hopeful I feel.
I picture my Paul there reading aloud as I cook.
As long as he's there to read there's quite a good chance indeed,
A chance that I'll never need to open a book.

Unlike someone else, someone I dimly recall,
I know he'll only have eyes for me.
My optometrist Paul!