Turning Point

a simple pile
of paper and ink
unassuming at first,
'mediocre', you think.
You’re wrong. This saga
of courage and strife
will first change your mind
and then your whole life

eight days in
you’ve finished the book
you’re a bird to the sky
a fish on a hook
and you can’t know it yet
but this is the start
of a sparkling new era
your young life’s best part

six years in
you’re smarter and sadder
the work’s a bit harder
the world’s a bit badder
but you still have your memories
through trouble and strife
when a book changed your mind
and then saved your life.

and you’re now stepping out
to a bright new day
you’ll change the world
once you know the right way
books were your refuge
your reason to live
they gave you so much
now it’s your turn to give.