A LOVE AFFAIR
None of us know exactly
how we are going to die,
but if I had to take a guess
now it would be crushed
to death under a pile of
unread books.
I have piles of unread books
everywhere, though
I promise you they are
organized in my fashion.
The books I’ve read and
want to keep are on bookshelves,
classified by genre, then author,
then publication date.
I can find any book
I’ve read in an instant if
no one has moved it which,
in my house, is like a 50/50 proposition,
because there is something
about a part of the house
looking neat and organized
than makes the household
gods crazy and compel someone
to touch it and destroy it.
There’s dust in the beams
of sunlight,
but there’s always
going to be dust with
that much paper in the room.
If I go to your house,
and you have a bookshelf on
display, I have to look at it.
I mean, I have to, in the way
that I have to breathe and
beat my heart.
I will make assumptions
about who you are based
on the books on your bookshelf.
For that matter,
if there are no books
visible in your house,
I will make assumptions
about that, too.
So, this love affair is
about what I don't expect
anything in return.
I'll carry them in my little
bag and walk, might not read
them but ensure their
presence with me.
Cracking open the fresh
spine of a book with the
smokey scent filling up your
lungs when the pages
flutter open.
The new anticipation
and excitement
flowing through your bones
to explore a new world
and promise to escape.
The great comfort
you feel when there are endless
possibilities to taste food you've
never tasted before, falling in love
with a stranger you'll never
meet again, the connection to
places you've never visited.
The ability of getting
lost in your own imagination.
I remember when I was little,
my mother would always
read to me before I went to bed.
Enid Blyton's, The Famous Five,
was always a childhood favourite
until one of the books ruined
the ideology of Father Christmas,
which my mother read out
loud until it suddenly clicked,
to which it was too little too late.
Once I finally learnt
how to read myself,
it was like my life had changed.
@mindfreak