I’ve crossed some thresholds
with a blood libation,
some with music and champagne.
I’ve slipped through some
unknowing.
I’ve stepped with confidence
from one warm room
into a maze carved out of ice,
myself caught behind thick glass,
watching one world,
part of another,
coldness becoming part of me –
and then I’ve passed
from wilderness to pastureland,
missing the gateway,
my eyes fixed too far in the distance.
I’ve lost charms, and I’ve found them.
I’ve stepped through mighty doorways
carved with old gods and scenes of
metamorphosis – and found myself
unchanged, and waiting for me –
opened bland doors into bland rooms
scented with pain and kindness –
I have learned
that each breath is a step,
and the pathway clear sometimes,
and sometimes hard to trace
You caught me with that first stanza. I really enjoyed this reflective poem–“each breath is a step”
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We don’t always find what we expect on the other side. Sometimes we don’t even see the doorway. Beautiful capture. (K)
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Enjoyed journey but struggled with last but one verse. Thank you Brian
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I love this so much. Breathing as the ultimate constant portal. And these lines really touch me as a kind of cautionary tale: “and then I’ve passed
from wilderness to pastureland,
missing the gateway,
my eyes fixed too far in the distance.”
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Nice lines: “I’ve stepped through mighty doorways
carved with old gods and scenes of
metamorphosis – and found myself
unchanged” Some of those doors made no difference and led right back in.
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Love this in its entirety, but the last stanza says so much!
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How I love “I have learned that each breath is a step.” Fantastic writing.
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Fabulous!
I was really thinking about how the doorway and the portal itself is insignificant compared to the what the person experiences themself. It odd not so much what you go through, it is more about what you go through. I brought my poem in a different direction, but you caught this thought so poignantly. Love this. Especially
“I’ve stepped through mighty doorways
carved with old gods and scenes of
metamorphosis – and found myself
unchanged, and waiting for me –“
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These lines are so evocative and poignant:
“I’ve stepped through mighty doorways
carved with old gods and scenes of
metamorphosis – and found myself
unchanged, and waiting for me –
opened bland doors into bland rooms
scented with pain and kindness –”
especially that final line -‘scented with pain and kindness’
But really I loved the entire poem – well said, finely crafted and imaged with finesse
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Fabulous 😎👏
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This reminds us that each opportunity, each doorway that opens before us, holds potential. What to make of that is a decision we face each time.
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AH, that is an interesting journey through different portals with wide-ranging experiences. There is such comfort in reading your verse as it has a certain universality too. I love blood libation, scenes of metamorphosis, and a pathway that is hard to trace. 🙂
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For the most part I traversed portals guided by the moral compass provided in my childhood. The single time in my life I chose to ignore it and make a selfish decision led to a stunning betrayal that shook my world. We are the sum of our choices, and sometimes it’s a painful journey!
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We are, and it is.
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This is fantastic… but I also think that we never realize that we have passed those portals until afterward. ..
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How did I miss this poem the first time around? It’s like an optical illusion, easy to slip through a few unknowing. I love the contrast of warmth & cold, & the final stanza is honest and wise.
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