A Bookmark Follows

Behind every cover is an untold story
Characters come and go
Foreign settings become familiar
The plot thickens before it gets thinner
A bookmark follows

Some chapters take their time
Filling the soul with something that was not there
Others pass through during the night
Their purpose served
A bookmark follows

When there is shortness of breath
No more patience in the tank
No reason to keep swimming
The story about to drown
A bookmark follows

Always there for guidance
Like a star in the sky
Full of clarity and reassurance
For the times you want to look back
A bookmark follows

The pace picks up
It is impossible to put down
A promise is kept
Off to the races
A bookmark follows

Words make the jump
Sentences clear the hurdle
Paragraphs stick the landing
Chapters finish the race
A bookmark follows

Look around as the plot gets thinner
Survey what is left and what was right
As pages transfer their weight in your hands
From what was right to what is left
A bookmark follows

The final period
Keeps the light on
Closes the door
Goes home
Will the bookmark follow

A new cover cracked open like an egg
Oozing with potential
Sprawled across the red carpet
Laid out on the greener grass
A new bookmark follows

The characters are caricatures
The setting is unsettling
The plot is an afterthought
The diction is fiction
A new bookmark follows

It is a juggling act
Too hard for the circus
Does the latter disappear
Like Houdini from the atmosphere
A new bookmark follows

Words cannot make the jump
Sentences cannot clear the hurdle
Paragraphs cannot stick the landing
Chapters cannot finish the race
A new bookmark follows

The story is a runaway train
Going in circles
Until it opens the door
To the only thing that can keep it on track
A bookmark follows

With the door blown open
The light was shining through
Sitting there waiting
Knowing it was true
A bookmark follows

The chain continues to multiply
As the shelf makes way for new additions
Without forgetting its subtractions
For it will never be divided
A bookmark follows

So find a bookmark to hold you in place
Lean on it when you cannot go any further
Carry it around and let it hover
Because it cares more about the story than it does the cover
A bookmark follows