Maggie, Lock the Door: Three Views

Maggie, Lock the Door:Three Views

I
That girl has life in her
oh yes, in the sparks in those eyes.

Witness to the endless
chain of human self-calamity
her heart is held in holy love,
love that embraces in its whiteness,
that warms in its purity.
We're through with lies
and yet we live one more
asking ourselves not to see it.

II
One long day of noneck monsters
and moving from sterility to
futility among the enemy,

Oh, you stand there resplendent
in white, fierce heart
spoken--now the only words.

III

White the cross
that woman has life in her.

No, she does not,
a simple removal turns a life
into a lie
and she has seen the world
of lies and longs
to see the end of them all--

an end to pain,
a birth from pain, a promise
of deliverance
in white. Oh the putrid smell
of mendacity
fills this room, drags her
white dress and all
to the edge of who she is and
a heart stands
arrayed and open lively

and bright. Oh yes,
that body has life in it
and longs for life
as what body does not no matter
what we say?

And when our door closes
will we see what
we love or what we would destroy?

© 2003 Steven Riddle