Emma Undone

I've come undone, a bit
I see you’re looking critical
Greater than my sum, I sit
Can you see beyond this citadel?

You're frightened of a falling sheet
A slice of life unspoken
The brittleness of tawny pleats 
Portends adventures broken

Only the hero will furl the cover 
Read the first word, and the second
Enfold the mess of life within
And feel the spine begin to stiffen

And soon hold upon its steady boughs
Whole sentences far-reaching 
Characters alive and sound 
Threading pages with their treasons

Fear not the fear of loss
It will bridge the faults and fissures
One cannot creep upon a journey
When the heart beats into the future

The pieces will hold, you will hold
All the cards in a game well played
Though never before like this

It is you who bind the pages sundered
Tend the story gently plundered
Wholly new, wholly you —
Minus a page or two