The Gateway – A Poem
I was inside of
a house. There was
no way to know
how many floors there
were; from the outside
it seemed to stretch
right into the clouds.
From the inside, it
seemed just as big,
just as tower like.
I stood at the bottom
of the staircase and
you were beside me.
“It’s okay, you can do this.”
I looked at the
stairs with some trepidation.
“I don’t know that I can. You know I can’t do stairs very well.”
You smiled at me
and took my hand,
just for a moment.
“It’s okay, I’ll be right behind you.”
I nodded, knowing that
there was no other
choice. I started up the
steps, holding onto the
railing. I wondered at
what the woman outside
the house had said.
“If you enter and are brave enough, you will discover a gateway at the top.”
I looked at her, with
skin that seemed translucent,
as if the light would
pass right through her
if it caught her in
a certain way. I
moved closer to her.
“A gateway to what?”
She shrugged, a small
smile on her lips.
“You’ll have to find out yourself.”
And now we were
here, inside the house,
going up the steps
to an unknown miracle.
“What kind of gateway to you think it is?”
I asked you. I
heard your voice speaking
behind me and the
sound of it helped
calm me. When you
spoke, it was as if
you spoke to the
centre of my being.
“Who know? There’s only one way to find out.”
We continued to go
higher. Every time, I
stumbled, you caught me.
Every time I tripped
on a stair, you steadied me.
Every time I didn’t
think I would make it,
you kept me going.
Every time I felt
like giving up,
you encouraged me and
told me that I
could do anything.
We neared the top of
the staircase and I
could feel the wind
on my face. I turned
and looked at you.
“How high have we come?”
You took my hand and
helped me up onto
the very last step.
“Let’s take a look, shall we?”
There was only light
when we stepped forward
and out onto a balcony.
It looked over everything
and I saw that we
had just done what I
thought was impossible.
The house was built into the
face of a mountain and we
had just scaled its heights.
We stood there, looking
out at the land below us.
You put your arm around me
and we took in the
brightness and warmth of
the sun. Something had
changed within me. We
had done what I thought
to be impossible. We
accomplished it by looking
at it in a different way.
“You can do anything you set your mind to.”
You said to me.
I could only turn
to you and put
my lips to yours,
hoping that the kiss
would speak what my
words had thus far
failed to express.
As I kissed you,
I thought of the woman’s
words again:
“If you enter and are brave enough, you will discover a gateway at the top.”
I could feel my heart
opening further, filling me
with light. What locks
there were inside me
fell away at your
touch, opening the gate
wide so that only
light could shine through.
When your own gate
opened, the two hearts
beating as one, shone
brighter than the sun.
