Hello Reader! Poem by Paul Butters

My dearest reader, seconds ago, before your
Decision to turn the page, there was nothing.
These very words were hidden away and thus
Unseen, to all intents did not exist:
Just like the beauty of the Jovian Moons
`Til "Voyager" beamed those pictures back to Earth.

For You have brought this page to life - yes You and only You!
You bring along a wealth of memories of your own,
Your feelings, thoughts, regrets and sorrows, joys
And fears, your hopes and fantasies.
You have the mountains of your mind:
Your personal rivers, clouds and suns: flowers and gasometers!
Landscapes, dreams and nightmares of your very own.
And me, as you sit reading this, I might be with you right now,
Dead and buried, or maybe miles away.

To you I give the role of God: to breathe your life upon this page.
Take you away, dear reader, and there's nothing: formless void.
Yet now, together, you may join me, in a realm
Where Life, though challenged by Evil,
Is Warded by our Love.

(C)PB 1997.