Today I Placed a Pale Blue Bookmark Beside a Book

This afternoon, I placed a pale blue bookmark beside my book on the white desk. Soft light came through the window, and even the edge of the open pages looked wrapped in a faint blue glow. The bookmark was thin and a little cool. When I held it between my fingertips, it caught the light like a tiny piece of glass. Before slipping it into the place where I had stopped reading, I let it rest on the page for a while and simply looked at it. With the white paper and the narrow pale blue shape side by side, the time I had just spent reading seemed to stay there quietly. Each time the curtain moved, the bookmark's shadow moved just a little too. Instead of hurrying to the next page, I wanted to hold the afterglow of reading slowly today. Even after closing a book, the scenery inside it can keep going in my heart like gentle light. In the evening, when I closed the book, the pale blue bookmark peeked out slightly between the pages. When I open it again tomorrow, I feel as if today's soft light will come back with it, and that makes me look forward to it a little. A small marker can make the day feel like it continues properly.