This door
what lies behind you?
I could just turn the knob,
peek around your wooden frame,
but that would be too easy.
Perhaps peer across the floor, through the little slit
that allows air to rush through.
Cool, new air;
not air on this side.
Or maybe I can squint through the keyhole
like in the movies,
and see wonders censored by a shape
just big enough for a key to fit in.
Behind this door
could lie another world.
Filled with magic and wonder,
or darkness and fright,
of happiness, or despair,
of creatures not of this earth,
but of another, distant world.
I lean my ear upon the carefully carved design
listening intently for a sign of life--
a whisper, a shout,
something to give me hope
that whatever lies beyond this door
is better than where I am now.
