Liber Timorum
Ancient and unforgotten
Old,
unassuming,
gleeful.
written before the birth
of cognition.
Pages yellow and tattered
from the oil
of your trembling fingertips,
dog-eared and folded
by the unflappability
of your cowardice.
Written in thin
spidery lines,
blood red fading to
rusted copper,
atrophic veins refusing
to return courage
to your heart.
Bound interstitially,
the creeping fungal mass
of your nervous system,
weaving and strengthening
the tome’s liminal spaces
Hoping
Praying
Begging
for an end to the anecdotal evidence
of your failures
prejudices
and petty notions
Hands sweating,
ink smearing, but still indelibly legible,
your eyes racing
through its fluttering testimony.
Leaves stinking with the
stale,
blunt scent
of your trepidation
hesitation
doubt
Without page numbers
Every page reading identically
Front to back
Top to bottom
Endless,
and eternal
Each of us is the author of our own Liber Timorum (Book of Fears). The table of contents varies, but its pertinence resides. This book is a crucial part of anyone’s library, and to pretend or assume its nonexistence is folly of the highest order, but to read it consistently might also be a colossal mistake. What are the hardest chapters of your book?
No pressure to highlight, comment, or clap, just enjoy the words and pass the positivity on.
In gratitude :)
