Faded Pages

Dust settles on the book cover.

Every chapter has dog-eared pages,

with scribbled 

notes in the margin.

The spine is cracked and crooked,

struggling to hold all of the yellow faded pages together. 

Stains of coffee and tea 

creating illustrations and shapes on the pages. 

Some pages are missing, others permanently 

stuck together like interlocked fingers of reunited lovers.

Its cracked cover conceals

a magical mystery.

Each flaw is a memory of a past reader. 

Each of its ripped pages contain an adventure.

Every sentence, every word, and every letter,

has a purpose.

It sits on the shelf, with all its blemishes waiting to be read.