Books gather dust in closed rooms,
their spines like stiffened backs,
knowledge locked in pages,
curled tight like fists.

All it takes is the crack of a cover
to spill ink into the air,
to paint the world in colours we've never seen.

Minds, too, fold in on themselves,
like umbrellas in the rain,
useless when clutched shut,
their potential drenched
in ignorance's downpour.

But open and they bloom,
each rib unfurling like a petal,
catching storms, turning deluge into poetry.

There's no shelter in stagnation,
no wisdom in walls.
Books, minds, umbrellas
they were never meant to stay closed.
Only when we risk the rain can we finally see the sun.