The Book

by K. Leigh

Do not judge a book by its cover!

But what if you are not able to read

The finely printed words underneath?

I read the title on the front.

Sounded interesting.  The author

Happened to be a familiar one.

The pages were stuck; the book

Would not open---oh look!

It opened just enough for me

To read the preface.  The topic

Was a tolerable one and I would

Have enjoyed reading more if...

I could have found a way to unlock

The pages.   Perhaps this treatment

Would do the trick.   But wait!

My book was gone.

Someone had misplaced it on another shelf

Too high for me to reach by myself.

I called for help.

Another came with a ladder and took

The book down;   he began to read it

And I began to frown.

How could this fellow turn pages

Which for me were stuck?  Then I knew I would not

Like any other book as well as the one

I had never read.

But I was wrong.

There were other books yet to read,

Other passages to which I held the key.

They were yet waiting for me.

And I delighted in them  

As in the company of true friends.

There was a happiness in reading them

That helped me in the end.

And I began to see

An ocean of books were yet waiting

With stories to tell to me.

Forgetting the books

That might be denied me,

I looked to the books

Which opened to my key.