Unread

 I was always an avid reader, and now, with shelves bowing under the weight of accumulated books...

...it's getting really hard to stay focused on anything I read. I'll pick up a book, read a few chapters, then put it down and start another. Too often I forget what I was reading. I just can't connect with a story any more.

I don't know if it's cancer, or the result of too many recent high fevers...or maybe I've changed.

Writing's harder, too. I bet you can tell.

Whatever. Life is still good, there's lots to do, and I don't mourn a vanished past.

I'm putting this out there for anyone who may see this in a loved one, or see it in themselves.

Change, and a feeling of loss that might be related to it, are not to be hated. They may be uncomfortable, may be frustrating, but in the end, God's in control. Maybe He's doing this for a reason.

Maybe He wants you to put aside others' stories, so He can tell you your own.

I drew such inspiration

from all the tales of derring-do,

and in part became creation

of the stories I lived through,

but now the words don't resonate,

falling empty at my feet,

and I am forced to contemplate

that what I thought made me complete

was a step upon a road

that leads...I don't know where!

The principles that were a goad

have vanished into crystal air,

leaving me to understand

that it's time to take God's hand.

The Five Minute Friday prompt this week is STORE.

Always loved the bookstore,

Barnes and Noble, Borders too

(and when the latter shut its door,

I was really, really blue).

There's something 'bout the smell of books

that nothing else can truly reach;

it might be the domain of cooks,

a recipe no-one can teach.

But all that is now nearly gone,

BN has more knick-knacky stuff.

Books now come from Amazon,

but somehow that's not quite enough

to re-create a lovely past

that was just too good to last.

Three minutes, and it kinda hurt to go there.

Music from Enya, with (well, why not) Book Of Days

Sylvia says there are only two words worth reading.

Ice.

Cream.