A light-weight novel is a guarded treasure,
yet as fickle as a ruby-red delicate rose.
It’s thorns the only defense
to someone with callous and reckless hands.

Quick to draw blood with no remorse
from a wound inflicted by a papercut,
yet beloved and clutched to your bosom,
like a defenseless, gentle infant.

You read the printed, black ink
enthralled by its words allowing
entertainment, being drawn into this fiction
with the key to kingdoms and battleships.

Displayed among a captive audience,
satisfied by its digestive meal
leaving sugar comas and full bellies
to satisfy your imagination.

A classic book that is a Disneyland ticket
added to the millions of starry-eyed tales
of adventures among your wooden, sturdy
dust-covered bookshelves.

“I have to read this beauty,”
you remind yourself as the artist’s creation
of a cover draws you in without hesitation,
without resistance or qualms about its allure.

In the end, the fragile cave of wonders harboring gold
is never meant to remain untouched and on display
among your halls in your humble dwelling
taking up matter and space.

Editor: Shannon Hensley