Past The Door

After
all ends
I
open the door
and step from the darkness.
Silence.
Am I
the only one?
The sun
is shining.
There should be birds.
There should be laughter.
Trees--all around--there should be quiet sounds...of
their growing...
--but
there is nothing.
I move,
strangely out of place.
Nothing else moves here.

What is to be done?
I try to think--I close my eyes tightly--and suddenly
I remember--
I would not die like the others.
I took the last chance.
I broke the Law.
I entered the Door.

A motion catches my eye,
Life!
Another moving thing! I whirl to see--
but it is only my shadow.
I should know,
by now,
should have realized.
There is nothing to do but what I did,
a thousand years--or is it only moments?--ago; go to
the Door--
I pause.
The stillness is heavy,
and I am so tired,
but nonetheless...it seems...there must be...a way...
No,
no, I see it now.
There is only one way.
Death.
I step back from the Door--
let the fire find me! I will not turn this time.
I will go after them.
Someone will wait for me.
but no,
I have forgotten.
Nothing can harm me--
not here.
I have passed the Door.

There is
no death
here.

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