Dusty books lay side-by-side
like aged soldiers, still ready to march.
Except the war of the shelves is not physical but mental,
and the battleground resides in ourselves.

Studying students retreat with sighs of surrender.
Tests are no longer a measure of knowledge,
but a measure of life lost to professors’ orders,
glued to rows of chairs with rigid backs.

In the past, this was a place of wonder
where children dragged their mothers by the hand,
longing to discover adventure and mystery
when imaginations spat out images of pirates and princesses.

Now, the aisles of books bring despair,
just more work in a world without play,
where we treat text like landmines of ink
rather than the golden treasure that words used to be.

But the soldiers on shelves still march on,
still full of adventure and mystery,
waiting for ally hands to grasp their spines,
caress their pages and drink in their words.