The Need To Read

I read every single day …I need to.

‘I feel the need… the need to read!’

- Anonymous bookish meme, based on a Top Gun reference

Graphic: author’s own, made with Canva

I’m a mood-reader.

I read every single day.

…I need to.

I need to read sweetness and light and fluffy marshmallows.

I need to read dark depths of despair and decay.

I need the happy ever afters, the dreams come true.

I need the sad endings, the tragedies.

I need everything in between. Give it to me.

Give me the happy romances with people finding happiness.

Let me share in their sweetness and light.

Let it give me hope that one day that could be mine.

Give me the sadness. The darkness. The night.

Because I know that the happiness is not for me — and the darkness? The darkness understands.

Let me channel my hurt into theirs, feel my pain ebb into theirs.