This poem was inspired by the novel Fahrenheit 451 written by Ray Bradbury. If you don't want any spoilers of any kind concerning this novel then I suggest you skip this poem as it may contain spoilers.
Banned, illegal, forbidden,
the books hid in the shadows.
Whispered in the dark.
Read by candlelight,
only to be ripped away by the flames.
Gifted to the hungry maws of fire.
Bathed in kerosene and flicked alight.
Burnt to ashes and embers.
Indistinguishable, unreadable, abolished.
Stolen by hands covered in flames.
Living to be read again, remembered and debated over once more.
Only to be discovered and join their kin in the ashes.
Ashes and embers, lost for all time,
or so was thought.
Gone in body but in mind they lived on.
In memories they lived, like a spirit of the past.
Phrases, chapters, paragraphs, articles.
Reminisced over the light of fire.
Passed down through words to the next bearer.
Hoping for the day they can step out of the ashes,
stepping into an age of golden years.
YOU ARE READING
Poetry
PoetryJust a collection of the poems that I have written. The tag Fahrenheit 451 is there because I have 2 poems that are inspired by the novel, they are parts 5 and 6: Forbidden Ashes and Power of the Parlor.
