To Read

To read is to live a thousand and one lives When one opens a book They are in a world Far grander than their own Where good always wins And the story ends happily To read is to escape reality To block the sounds of parents fighting Of thunder crashing Of darkness creeping To read is to find peace To hear a story that makes one feel light When the weight of the world is holding them down And they feel like giving up To read is to love As Sibyl Vane loved Dorian Gray As Rochester loved Jane Eyre As Cathy loved Heathcliff To read is to be safe From the harsh words of a society that doesn’t understand From the nagging feeling of inadequacy From the fear of not belonging A book is forever One’s favorite book will always be there Even when no one else is.