Paper Is Heavy

Paper is heavy
And slows one down
It is a motto of mine
Which leads to a mantra of
Assimilate-consolidate-eliminate
Repeated over and over
At regular intervals
To train myself
In the science and art
Of traveling lightly
In a world overburdened
With too much paper
And not enough trees

Yet this very morning
Confronting the stacks of
My writings from long ago
I found myself taking
An unplanned trip through time
Suddenly immersed in
People and events come and gone
The pages and their words
Triggering memories and emotions
In a way that no mere trip
Through my thoughts ever could

@}--,---'----