A Favorite Good Book Poem by Catherine Malchak

You were to me like a favorite good book
glued to your pages until I was hooked
The first time I read you my whole world shook
It was like you were from the library
I borrowed you just to read and re-read
turning you in wasn't something easy
It didn't seem right, it just wasn't fair
having to give you up while I still cared
There were things about it that made me scared

Like knowing someone would soon check you out
knowing she'd soon know what you're all about
Bring back my book now I wanted to shout
My heart, my soul and my spirit would gauge
her running fingers down my favorite page
Imagining these things filled me with rage
I wondered how often she would ear mark
The pages of you where she found you dark
I prayed that she wouldn't like that part

I hoped she'd return you to the bookshelf
And I'd get you back in spite of myself
Me wanting you was beyond any help
I knew it was wrong to keep on like this
I had to move on- forget you exist
and remember pages I would not miss
Try to forget what you did to my pulse
Stop holding on out of some love impulse
And not let this cause my brain to convulse

I let you go- page by page, bit by bit
It wasn't easy, the sheer pain of it
That empty shelf where your body had fit
Knowing that we're part of my history
My struggle, my pain, my anxiety
The thing that brought out this weak side of me
I lingered on the last page far too long
Not wanting to see the end wasn't wrong
To turn you back in I had to be strong

The story of us, it had a good run
Putting it down and starting a new one
Was the hardest thing I have ever done
Somehow I feel like I'll never forget
how many chapters I'll always regret
and how much I loved you, still love you yet
I'll remember how much effort it took
to stop going back for just one more look
at the pages of my favorite good book