The Cover

  1. Scruffy hair and bleary eyes
  2. Just woke up
  3. He gallops down the hall
  4. Shouts "Hey Dad!" as he passes
  5. Leans on the living room table
  6. And gazes at the book we’re reading
  7. And gazes
  8. And gazes
  9. A longing on his face
  10. A nameless feeling
  11. No words to describe it
  12. No experience to draw upon
  13. The longing
  14. What happiness it would bring to dive in
  15. To luxuriate in the words
  16. To imagine other worlds and creatures and people
  17. To be like other kids
  18. To be like he was once
  19. To read
  20. Was that not so easy
  21. Not long ago
  22. Like it was yesterday
  23. To read
  24. So easily
  25. So effortlessly
  26. Without a care in the world
  27. Instead, the cover
  28. An invitation that cannot be accepted
  29. A door, once so inviting, now foreboding
  30. Full of fear and terror
  31. And again, that look
  32. The longing
  33. The sadness
  34. The realization
  35. And, though I wish with all my heart
  36. That it will never come to pass
  37. The resignation
  38. If only I could stop it
  39. That deluge, that torrent
  40. Stop the crushing weight of reality
  41. Fight back the darkness
  42. I cannot
  43. But know, instead
  44. I will be there, always
  45. I will be your guide
  46. I will be your light
  47. I will be your rock
  48. And you, my greatest love