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Thursday 7 January 2010

The Door

I don't know what to think about this one. In fact, I don't think I feel anything, so I shall not mind what you say about it! You have carte blanche!

In every aspect nature welcomes me,
the door is opened, lights turned down,
the music on. She flirts with me,
she dances lightly dressed, lays sweetmeats
at my feet and fills my eyes with visions
of great beauty, such that artists cannot
in their wildest dreams aspire to emulate.

In every aspect nature welcomes me -
save one. One door there is that leads into
a garden (so the gossip is), a studded door
that is forever locked to me. She will not open it,
nor talk of what it is that lies beyond.
Some giants have passed that way and not returned.
What could lie outside, but the very mind of God?

17 comments:

Jinksy said...

On first read through, it would seem you are talking of death - but then, as you say 'Some giants have passed that way and not returned', it gives another slant on things- it could be madness, or drugs, on the other side of that door...Or it might be simply a super abundance of creativity that denotes rare genius. Intriguing...

Karen said...

A door forever locked? I am intrigued. Like Jinksy, I read death, but that door opens for us all, so now I wonder. The rhythm of this is very nice.

Bagman and Butler said...

I love the rhythm, the dichotomy of the two stanzas. I wasn't sure I read death into it although, after reading the comments, I can now. But I tend not to try and interpret too much but allow my emotions or my subconscious to react without defining. I really do like this one. Doors are such great metaphorical engines.

Barry said...

Eden perhaps? A garden forever locked to us yet tempting us with rumours of access to the very mind of God.

A garden that only opens to giants, who then never return?

The poem is certainly tantalizingly seductive leaving that itch to know that cannot be scratched.

Moira said...

intriguing, I like it, def food for thought. Just popped by to read your post and say thanks for following my blog. Thanks Moira

Jim Murdoch said...

It can’t be death because we all pass that way. Only intellectual giants get to open the door. The rest of us are aware that there are great thoughts out there but they’re beyond our reach.

Unknown said...

Hi Dave,

I'm notoriously bad at reading inner meanings in most things, so I'll happily go with the idea of great intellect - that I don't possess!

Rosaria Williams said...

I'm intrigued by this door. You are talking about an earthly paradise here, food and beauty at your reach, yet, something else is there you wish, something that will forever change you?

Dianne said...

The first half captured my feelings, the second half left me uneasy, which perhaps is what it is all about.

Tommaso Gervasutti said...

I really enjoyed it, marvellously enigmatic and engaging, fortunately it's only one door the locked one but absolutely the most important?
I feel Blake's legacy in here.

Conda Douglas said...

Interesting that you're neutral about this poem, Dave. As usual, I enjoyed the images it brought to my mind.

I'd removed the comma after the parenthesis--too much of a full stop for me.

Kass said...

Very mysterious. Opens up more doors into what the mind of God might be. Is there a thinking side to nature? Why do we fear the ominous studded possibility that the garden beyond the door is a void, a form of nothiness?

Shadow said...

mystery... the nature of humans, even when they have all, to want the one thing they can't... i like this!

Elisabeth said...

I'm intrigued when you write you feel nothing for this one. Does this mean you are not connected to it?

To me for all its strength it does have a disconnected feel. Maybe your emotional distance sigbnfies this. Though I can also say that there are times when I feel disconnected from my writing and I hope that it doesn't show.

Maybe if you hadn't qualified these words the way you did, I'd have read them differently.

Dave King said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Dave King said...

To all
I trust you will all forgive if this once I provide a collective response. (Bit pushed for time, you know!)Your comments have been of great interest to me - and were, as it happens, pretty collective themselves.

This was an occasion when I decided to set off and see where it took me. Writing the first verse I had intended the door to represent death, but then thought it might be more interesting if I left it open. # (Which sort of explains my own ambiguous feelings about it.)

Kass, Lakeviewer, Jim and others all came up with intriguing suggestions, for which much thanks.

I had thought there would be three verses, but at the end of the second thought the job was probably done.

# The issue, that is, not the door!

Anonymous said...

What a great resource!