A Poem: Open

In a word
open.

Open the door,
the window, the rusty hinges,
crack them open to the light.

Draw apart the curtains,
open to the day, alighting as a gift upon
the window sill.

We don’t know quite
how dark this house we live in is,
until the light floods in.

We get used to the view of our small rooms,
while unaccustomed breadth
and height awaits us outside.

In a word
open.

Listen to the birds,
as they catch the updrafts of the wind,
to soar into wondrous space.

Watch how the
washing catches the breeze
as though it were asked to stop and dance.

And see how someone
asks you to come to the threshold,
to take a step beyond the ledge,

to draw apart the
heart’s protective ramparts,
and lower its drawbridge down.

Yes, in a word
open.

See what it is that awaits you.

Ana Lisa de Jong
April 2018

Image: Pinterest