I’m a common starter for some complex and cool machines. I come in many colors and sizes, but only one shape. If you’ve lost a bunch of me, you may be crazy.

I can be drawn without ink, I can be shed without fur. Built by bone, or from birth you've known. We've bonds of iron so keep me close to your heart, for death might loom, should we part.

I have feathers and I fly, but have no beak nor do I cry. So weak you could break me in your hand, but so strong that I too could kill a man.

The very young or the very old may need me. I can be of the disposable type, or you may choose to re-use me. Sometimes, I’m full of crap.

I have a spine, yet I have no bones. I am a book with pages made of light, And I must be fed a cord to survive the night.