I’ve seen this back alley before
In the haze of a dream world, though awake
These blinding lights strike me as familiar
Behind the door up ahead a staircase descends
Into an underworld that awaits my return
With faces that know me—perfect strangers
Voices speaking ancient tongues that bend with the wind
Together screaming at the night never to end

When the gate opens, we will be there
And the song of the coming will be known to us
Ready on our lips to touch the sky
The crowd breathes as one in the makeshift twilight
And their eyes are watching me
Across the threshold beyond which there is no return
Spare me the wild-eyed fever, the gaping fear
I chose not to wait helpless for the darkness to take me
But to go out to the gate and meet it

Photo by Aleksandar Pasaric from Pexels