Threshold

For me it used to be

Consent was the key

To cross my iron threshold

My safe place tinged by red rust

Aging my blue memories

Turning life's meaning to dust

I felt the knock

Walk past all my locks

Of integrity

All access is one-sided

To a beating threshold

Barred by the uninvited

Through a Judas-hole

Of self-review

I behold the stranger

Someone I once knew

Cross my threshold

Now that I've become old

I learned dust is not

Bound by any threshold

No deadbolt can ever prevent

A speck of faith to bypass

Every edict of consent

I felt the knock

Walk past all my locks

Of sanctuary

All access is two-sided

To a beating threshold

Called by the uninvited

Earth's door has slammed shut

On the stranger that was me

For given to me is the key

To pass the golden threshold

© 2026 John Osinga. All rights reserved. St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada.