Paperbacks

A little more disposable

These books are built to be.

Their covers fade and the pages curl,

But their words still speak to me.

Their every leaf is mutable

To fall with time’s decay,

But in my heart, they place a pearl

Whose power there will stay.

 

This is the fifth in a series of eight-line poems, and it's a direct follow-up to the previous poem in the series, which was about how stories can sweep us up and transport us to new places. This new poem contrasts the fact that physical books - and perhaps especially paperbacks - can fade and fray, while the themes and stories they convey can stay with us forever.