Books do have a soul
Show me someone who doesn't love a book and I will show you a liar....
I run a dusty fingertip along the cracked edges of the books on my bookshelf....
They stare back at me .... in silence .... pondering .... lending me a new thought.
Would a true bibliophile listen to spineless audio books they have recently bought?
Do the melodic tones of the narrator add soul to each silent word?
But I cannot hold the audio, feel its weight, isn't that absurd?
And what about the trees?
They're no longer swaying in the breeze!
I flick through paper lives, one by one, until their story feels brittle.
I suddenly like audio books more than before, just a little.
As the bookshelf creeks, I yank out another slice of an author's mind,
I feel the book's bind clutching layers of pressed paper enshrined.
How can I love a digital book compared to paper felt bookmarks?
Those lunch time reading escapes sitting on benches in parks.
My knuckles knock against the bookshelf, a cut blinks blood instantly....
I watch the book fall, tasting each timeless second, so distantly....
And in the moment before the spine and pages break apart,
I understand books are much more than creative art.
With a splash of blood - I lunge - to break its sudden fall,
And in that final moment I realize books - do have a soul!
