subtext

at the end of a hall

a screen door waits

a symbol a goal

or only a door

behind him boots echo

across wooden floors

a disembodied metonymy

for  a god superfluous
obvious and unnecessary 

yet nevertheless there
light emanates
omnipresently
like faces in Goya

it’s dawn or dusk

there are no shadows

crisply dividing

one into nothing

some simplistic duality

time is irrelevant

yet present

a white mold furs

the baseboards and corners

in some conditional metaphor

he lurches from door

to door rattling knobs

looking for keys

for clues

for openings

for a breach

lesions tear

into absence

a way in

a way out

a way through

not there

not here

one step

a way

away