Open Doorway

I come around the corner
on foot

old cobbles lead to faded paints
of towering
cracked
abodes

The houses stand in a tight line
shoulder to shoulder
grinning
walls of broken teeth

Just inside a battered doorway
a little girl leans
against a steep staircase

she’s calling up
to her Papa

Fragile
she teeters on tiptoes
the softness of her trousers
gently creasing
at the touch
of the wooden wedge
first step

A guitar rests against the doorframe
a six-string and a rag doll
making up the mise-en-scene

Somewhere else
beyond the mirrors of suited indifference
trains
are leaving loved ones
behind
mothers count the days away
families meet
for the first time
and let go
for the last

As I watch this toddler
yelling
I can call upon every ounce
of affection in my body

I can feel the touch of a thousand faces

but
I cannot hold this image before me
forever

and the knowledge
that it will fade any second
fills my heart
with a mixture
of dread
and delight

There’s nothing left to do

I turn my back
and walk on

on toward more precious
and precarious
sunshine