choice vs. chance

while ambling in a bookstore,

you pick one book or sometimes

one too many, telling yourself

you'll read them for sure.

however, not assigning a time

to engage in that activity.

you'll pass that book,

now part of the tbr pile,

when you scan your bookshelf.

1/6>>

you'll grab and flip a few pages too,

out of sheer curiosity

not knowing if you'll

continue to read.

and put the book back

in its respective place.

let dust settle over it,

and cobwebs spun across it.

you let the pages yellow

even though you've rarely used it.

2/6>>

but one day when you least expect,

the book picks you.

lets you read a few pages,

and leads you on till

you're unable to stop.

you pick a ticket stub, candy wrapper, condom pack, or your voter's id to bookmark to return to it,

time, time and again till you've

read it all the way through.

3/6>>

maybe, this was the time

that was meant to be.

when the reader and the writer

travel together to the same destiny.

one drives, the other navigates.

one finds answers

when they're least looking.

the other finds a treasure hunter,

to pursue the spot they

marked with an X.

an exchange of thoughts, unending.

a conversation long pending

4/6>>

and then, you've reached the back cover.

now you amble further on.

sometimes, the book stays with you.

one too many a times,

you will tell yourself you'll read it again.

however, you don't assign a time.

5/6>>

perhaps, it's quite the same

with people too?

-amit charles

6/6