"Books" Poem
- Books -
It's been a lonely week
I guess that's what one calls unwanted solitude
But maybe, just maybe
I'm learning to hold hands with silence
Learning to dance my way into a good book
I've stepped on several pages
And starting over again and again
Is something I've accepted
But you wouldn't know
Because I'm fighting this battle on my own now
Knowing that underwater
You can't hold my breath for me
I'm trying to see the world the way the fish do
The small ones and their big brothers
The shy ones staying away from the others
See one day maybe, just maybe, I'll come back
And knock on your door
And tell you stories about the storms,
They are different down here
There is no rain and everyone flies around
No one is afraid of the ground
For they do not know the things that you and I do
So if you want to
You could take a boat and come visit me
Reach out and touch my hand
And I know you'll try to pull me up
But gravity is only suspended in the places where you don't breathe
Dreams are thought through in places where we don't see
All that I know
All that we have learned together
Means so much, but in this world it is nothing
It my heart it will always be something
But all I've done is float
Afraid that I might crash into something if I swim
So I'm still thinking, with my eyes closed
And I don't know how long I'll be down here
But yours was my favorite number
So I'll call you when I come home, if I ever do
I'm just trying to hold my breath long enough to find what is true
See it's lonely down here because I don't speak their songs
They focus more on the tides and I more on the sunrise
But they give me books to read
I've been trying for the past week to ascertain their ways
But this will be the fifth time I've started over
Because it's hard to read when your eyes are closed
And they tell me I've got to feel the words
I don't understand until a shy, baby fish says
Feel the words the way you feel the wind
I ask him if he's ever felt the wind
He says no
But I see the waves and I see the storms wash lives away
So don't be afraid of being broken
Don't be afraid of letting go
Home is a place you'll always know
But stay with us a while
You have so many books to read
(NOTE: If you would like to purchase this poem please contact me at jared.s.carlin@gmail.com for personalized printing options. Thanks!)