The Perfect Escape Mechanism
Lost in between the lines
A little boy wakes one morning in sorrow,
Yesterday is hard to forget,
As he was reminded that there’s no love in his world,
So he closes his eyes once more not wanting to face the day yet.
***
Unable to force sleep,
He rolls over, picks up a book,
Turning page after page looking for the perfect escape,
And finds a picture of a tree he’d like to climb, nestled beside a brook.
***
A teenage girl sobs to herself quietly,
She’s had a hard day of being bullied at school,
She struggles to understand,
Why the girls need to be so horribly cruel.
***
She presses her face into her pillow,
Allowing the tears to flow,
Once her weeping dries on her tear stained face,
She begins to read a story about an adventure in which she’d like to go.
***
A young man suffering with his depression,
Starts his weekend in solitude,
Hours and hours stretch out in front of him,
With no plans, no company, all he has is time eternal to brood.
***
He spies an old book he’s had for years,
One that foretells all his favourite characters within their playgrounds,
A small smile graces his face as he turns the pages,
Deciding on the tale of the hare and hounds.
***
An empty nester wanders her bare rooms,
Missing all the noise and melee,
Everything is too clean, too silent, too bare,
Leaving her to wander the rooms in dismay.
***
She wonders what’s in store for her today,
When she remembers that book she’s been planning to read,
A good story will help her gain some relief,
A break from her emotions and pain that continues to bleed.
***
An elderly gentleman sits on his porch,
He looks over at the empty chair by his side,
Sixty years they were together but now she’s passed on,
Leaving him full of a soulful grief he cannot hide.
***
In his lap is a new western,
As he opens the front cover anticipating the action awaiting,
Pages that allow him to sit astride his mount once more,
As he gazes across the land at the cattle congregating.
***
There’s magic behind every book cover,
Different worlds just waiting to be discovered,
Perfect for days when you’re feeling blue,
Allowing you to escape for those hours it takes to recover.
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Originally posted on Medium
About the Creator
Colleen Millsteed
My first love is poetry — it’s like a desperate need to write, to free up space in my mind, to escape the constant noise in my head. Most of the time the poems write themselves — I’m just the conduit holding the metaphorical pen.
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Comments (2)
Wonderful piece. Well done.
I truly admire your talent for coming up with so many different poems about how reading helps to escape reality. I loved how you portrayed the solace people of different age groups and problems find in reading! Excellent work my friend!