Realization.

Beseech for knowledge, thirst to learn,
Corrupt wrong, battle basic beliefs
and read what's raw, what's real.

For fear spawns ignorance,
And burning books is like a disease, a monster,
A beastly blaze that sinks teeth into a literary feast,
Pulsing with scales of wispy amber and copper and scarlet,
Irrupting from match and reeking of kerosene
To steal away bitter reality,
Lapping up brilliance and magic with its long, smouldering tongue.

And, oh, how they feed it-
the average man
(Who's population outweighs that of the prudent people),
Willing to give the burning behemoth a nutritious supper
Filled with the things they don't want to hear.
Because the lazy man yearns for pleasure and not the complexity
Of authenticity.