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.