Chapters vs The Book

I'm starting to understand the difference
Between chapters and the book.
Certain people and situations can only be chapters.
I'm the book.

All the chaos in the world arises
When I try to force a chapter
To stay in the book.
When the chapter's contribution
To the book is complete,
It needs to go.

It's when I completely let go of the old chapters
Will I be able to make space to re-imagine a new destiny.
The key is to always remember
That I decide what happens next.
If I hand over the pen to someone else
They'll write the remaining chapters as it works for them
Maybe they'll even exclude me from my own story.

So now that I've taken responsibility for my own book
The chapters stay chapters.
Having said that
I eagerly await the arrival of
The new books that will take the shelf with me.
Maybe we'll be the same genre
Maybe we'll get put in the Spirituality division
Or Philosophy or maybe Art?
Or maybe we were written during a certain time-frame.
Maybe we'll all be hardbound
With all the life lessons learned to date.
For if there's one thing we've learnt
It's that we've got to be careful about who we trust
But maybe it won't prevent us
From being vulnerable
Because we understand that
It takes an open heart to love
For from vulnerability comes strength.

And maybe the new books as company
Will inspire better chapters in my story.
Maybe we'll teach each other a few tricks
To add more fun and joy.
Maybe we'll have a party
When the librarian's out!
Maybe we'll learn to sing and dance again
As the spark comes back into our eyes
Maybe we'll treasure each other
As we wink in understanding
Our respective journeys are what it took
To bring us here
And if this is where we get to end up
We'd gladly make peace with the journey thus far!

a*k²