While All the While

Love like a vapor -
love like an inkling of
what was or what might be -
comes through the wall
as if the wall was a window:
splintering bricks and
turning mortar to treacle,
while all the while there is a door.

Love like a an upstart -
love like an agitator mad
at contentment - fumes at the elders
who abide in a bedroom
more like a wedding chapel:
flickering candles
dapple the stained-glass shutters,
while all the while there is a door.

Love like a soldier -
love scarred from battles
that have only just ended -
cries liberation: scores
of gaunt, haunted prisoners
find that their shackles
are like cheap Yuletide garland,
while all the while there is a door.