The Keys

by Pavel Chichikov

A man gave me some keys to keep

But for which doors? I saw in sleep

A cottage on a grassy hill

A metaled road beside that fell

Steeply toward a sunny house

Where there were hosts and I was guest

A morning and an afternoon –

But now you must depart, return

The chain of keys that you were loaned

Lent to you and not your own –

Here's a blue one to the sky

Here's a green one to an eye

Here's a white one for the blind

Here's a black one for the mind

Here's a red key to a flame

Hear it burn and speak a name

Out I went, my work not over

And tried the keys in every door

But there were none the keys would fit

Every door I found was shut

Discordant waking, sleep confused

Work unfinished, keys unused

The man, the cottage still unfound

I searched an unfamiliar town

Farther seeming from the start

To find the right key to the heart

Until I saw a portal in

A baby's house, a tiny one

Awake, come in, you need no key

To open this but love for me

Visit Pavel's website at Grey Owl Press.