Duck into a Book

Duck into a book,
Disappear beneath the waves of words;
Sink slowly through the tides of ideas
And come to rest on the bed
At the bottom of the sea.

From there, on your back, in the deepest place,
(Where you can breathe because of magic)
Allow your mind to merge with the currents
That carry silver shoals of silver fish
And pale jelly animals you’ve never met before,
And tangled ropes of seaweed like ogre snot,
And mermaids and slowly old whales,
And fleeting dragons made of paint
And clattering crabs and laughing lobsters
And men in crowns and ladies alone with oysters.

From there, in the deepest place, you can see
All you need to see: everything.
Observe the seasons moving beyond
The small arguments of young men
And the quietness of thought;
See the years turning over and beginning
One after the other after the other,
And the stillness of time.
Watch as the story you read
Repeats itself in eternity
Each time under a fine new name.

From there on your back, in the deepest place
On the bed at the bottom of the sea of stories
Beneath the waves of words and the tides of ideas
And the currents carrying
Silver fish in silver shoals
From there you can watch the world
And the worlds beyond the world
Gliding by like distant creatures.

Duck into a book
And be free.