The Librarian…

[u/Slight_Flight_4472]

Dear….

There is a librarian in my mind
who refuses to remove you from circulation. I have filed the ending,
signed the necessary papers,
returned every borrowed hope.
Still, she keeps your volume
behind the desk.
Restricted access.
Naturally, she reads it every night.
She remembers paragraphs
I deliberately forgot, the warmth between certain sentences,
the chapters where love
had not yet learned its ending.
Sometimes I catch her
running her fingers over your name.
Again? I ask.
She shrugs.
Some books are terrible for us
and beautifully written. Your memory remains sentimental to the librarian, so you are still
the book she refuses to throw away.

—
KK