You Turn the Page
“Whenever I see someone reading a book . . ., I feel civilization has become a little safer.” Matt Haig, How to Stop Time
You turn the page because you have to know—
because the youthful wizard is in trouble,
because the wife’s about to pack and go,
because you just like living in this bubble
of graceful prose and other people’s ills
and joys, because turning the pages makes
you see things from a new perspective, fills
your mind with more than you, and maybe breaks
your heart or your routine, or breaks apart
what’s rusted shut, or else draws a connection
where you thought there was none. And once you start,
the pages lead you to the intersection
of art and life and your own empathy;
the pages turn you toward humanity.
by Jean L. Kreiling
Editor’s Note: This sonnet lays bare the truth that every bookworm knows.
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