The Door in The Darkness

 

At the end.

Stumbling upon a new beginning.

Like being in a dark room

and moving around,

until we finally find a wall.

Pre-defined edges,

limitations,

are a blessing

in the absence of perspective.

Perceptions shift

and the imagination creates

monsters in the abyss,

while the rational mind

explains away the real ones.

Feel along the wall.

The ninety degree connection

of wall and floor

fulfills some kind of requirement

for the brain to produce dopamine.

 

We would be okay

to live out your days

at this nexus

of defined boundaries.

We think it’s safe there.

Eventually, we come to learn

that down along the floor

run rats, and snakes,

and cockroaches,

so soon, we’re moving on,

feeling our way

along the wall

we cannot see,

but only feel.

 

We shuffle along,

inch by inch,

never knowing day or night,

only fear and exhaustion.

Finally, our fingertips

light upon some new thing.

A vertical edge,

a seam,

running from the floor

to just over head height,

then a right angle,

and running again,

the seam parallel to the floor

for about an arm’s length,

then down again,

back to the floor.

 

A door.

And as we run our hands

along its edges and face,

top to bottom,

our fingers encounter

the first anomaly

they have felt

since first discovering

the door in the darkness.

A metal protrusion,

almost spherical,

palm sized,

cold, metallic

and a light comes on

in our minds.

 

A knob to open the door.

Like a fireworks display,

emotions roil

and explode.

Hope, relief, excitement,

joy, and finally; fear.

Our hands tremble on the doorknob.

Is it locked?

Will it open?

What could possibly lie beyond

the limits of the only reality

we’ve known?

That ninety-degree junction

of floor and wall,

infinitely endless,

as far as we are concerned.

As far as we know,

this door

represents the possibility

of another kind of reality entirely,

another world,

incomprehensible in nature.

 

We clutch the doorknob,

shaking with anticipation.

the concept of this new frontier,

overwhelming the mind.

The idea of the existence

of another reality

implies the possibility

of something better,

or something worse,

of course.

There is always the possibility

of a more featureless darkness,

but the mind has a tendency

towards hope and fear.

Open the door

and live,

or open the door

and die.

 

It occurs to us

that part of our mind

is content to say

in the edge

along the wall

with the bugs and the rats.

That realization

breeds indignation

and we bit down hard on our courage

and turn the knob.

It moves easily.

Now, a new problem,

do we push, or pull?

Are we stepping in,

or stepping out?

There’s only one way

to know for sure.

 

Here we go.

 

 

HG – 2022

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