• Bold letters,
    Starch white pages,
    Who could resist?
    Smooth and shining,
    A bookworm's dream.
    The delicacy of the bind,
    The smell of the newly-printed ink,
    Heaven help me.
    Just one word,
    Two,
    Ten,
    Lighter now than when pulled from the shelf.
    But I must hurry,
    I must leave.
    People come and go,
    Time passes,
    Oblivious to the outside world.
    A tap on the shoulder,
    "We're closing up. It's 11:00 o'clock."
    It's not the first time this has happened.
    Burden of a reader,
    Curse of a reader,
    Love of a reader.