Therapeutic Efficacy of Books

Sometimes the best therapy for my anxious mind

Is to read a work of fiction- often I find

That in the lives of the characters I get immersed

And my problems recede in to the corners of the universe

In the manufactured dilemmas of my protagonists I get involved

Instead of my own, their predicaments I want to solve

I turn pages compulsively, curious to know where the story leads

I lose myself completely in the books that I read

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Some people meditate when they are perturbed, I read

Reading for me has a meditative quality indeed

Reading empties my mind of thoughts that are intrusive

My attention is focused on the book in a manner exclusive

Many times with the characters I relate

And my emotional angst further abates

*

In fact being without a book gives me

A sense of discomfort, a low-grade anxiety

That I have access to a book or two, I always ensure

So that being alone with my thoughts I don’t have to endure