What I've Seen

What I’ve Seen

I’ve seen books burn.

I’ve seen a whole house in flames,

Because of one shelf

Of forbidden literature.

I’ve seen pages of prose

Reduced to piles of ashes.

I’ve seen corners catch

And the flame dance over every word.

But I have never read those words.

Never opened those books,

Except to strike them with a match.

And as we all sit in our cages

Surrounded by our pixels,

As we sit in our cars

And let the world fly by,

Those books will continue to burn.

Their pages will fray, their owners will die

And the flames will come for them.

What will become of us, without these books?

I wonder this, as I burn another page.

Yes, I’ve seen books burn.

And I’ll tell you, fire always reads the same.

Author's Note

this poem was written as an assignment for an english class, and is based off of the character guy montag from fahrenheit 451. enjoy :)