She Keeps her Nose in the Book


There she sits, by the window,
Back straight and feet crossed at the ankles
With a book in her lap.

Plastered on her face is an indifferent look.
She keeps her nose in the book.

Her shadow stretches behind her.
Light enters the room like an invisible spirit,
Covering all but that puddle.

Her shadow, for a friend she once mistook.
She keeps her nose in the book.

The book, she has read before
Perhaps ten or twenty time by now
Will she ever give it up?

For fear of change, a vow she took.
She keeps her nose in the book.

Old and grey she will become
Die, she will someday.
The book will remain exactly as was

But not the shadow she forsook
As she kept her nose in the book.


~Stephanie Lafleur