inspired by Edward Hirsch’s “For the Sleepwalkers”
This morning I want to say a thank you
to the solid doors that serve this home,
that watch each day’s going out
and each day’s coming back in.
That keep our secrets in suitcases,
our shoes, neatly matched.
That bar strangers, neighbors,
even friends. Sometimes, even unlocked,
they secure us in the bathroom,
where we splash water in the sink to drown
out the shouting just on the other side.
My heart says: Swing wide.
Swing open. Swing back and forth.
May knobs hobble off and keys
take wing. Be screened—not solid.
Let the air in. Slam joyfully.
Play indoors and outdoors
at once, as if they were the same.
We have to make our souls mesh.
We must become an exit
as well as an entrance
to every person. In every
season, when we must
close, let us lay unlatched, like a gate.