Between Bruises & Blooms

I have read
more than two hundred books
this year

and somehow
I am still
looking for somewhere
to go.

Prythian
wasn't far enough.

Terrasen
couldn't keep me.

Lunathion
held me
for a while.

I climbed
onto dragons
at Basgiath
and let war
be louder
than my thoughts.

I followed ghosts
through centuries,
watched old mysteries
open their mouths
and finally confess.

I have lived
a hundred lives
from the same bed.

Loved people
who never existed.

Mourned deaths
that never happened.

Stayed awake
until sunrise
because somewhere
between chapter thirty-two
and chapter thirty-three

I forgot
to be myself.

And maybe
that sounds sad.

Maybe it is.

But there are nights
when disappearing
is not the same thing
as giving up.

Sometimes
it is just
how I make it
to morning.

One fictional world
at a time.

One more chapter.

One more life
that isn't mine.

One more place
to hide

until I am ready
to come home.