Reading

An old man lies on a couch

reading from an old book

and he turns the page

and the sound of the paper

being agitated

is so dramatic

it seems to fill 

the entire room

penetrating the very walls

and out into the night

and the old man’s eyes

widen and focus

filling with so much

electricity

and anticipation

to discover

that which he wants so badly to discover

as if it were crucial

to every facet of his life

and the sound of the paper

being contorted

its fibers

rubbing against each other

creating a sound

of such singular dramatic power

unlike anything else

in the entire world

so crisp

so electric

for each fiber is tiny

and there are probably

millions of them on a single page

and the man’s eyes

filled with so many variegated cells

that to number them

would be close to impossible

each seemingly electrified

all at that same instant

when the page is turned

and it settles down

those eyes rest upon a single word

to understand

as if for the very first time

the entire universe

and all that it means

and to have crossed that span of time

when the page was turning

which was only an instant

but could have been a thousand lifetimes

and then

to pause on that word

to understand

and to go on to the next word

and understand.