The dream house

We entered the house and the open doors
Saw the paintings on the wall and exclaimed.
You picked up the faded letters
And dreamed of love.

We wandered the rooms
Saw people asleep
Caught in their own futures
Curled
Mumbling private fears...
The floorboards creaked underfoot
As we played the game of silence.

Then I found myself alone
as I crossed the memory-filled rooms.
Each carpet told stories
Of many travelled lands
And endless pacing.

She whirled out from my dreams
Caught my hands in hers
And asked me to dance.
There are parties she said as I felt her warmth
And places to go, people to meet.
Are my friends there, I asked,
And my love?

People beckoned, each begging to tell
Of a life of events and non-happenings.
The rooms were thick with interwoven tales,
Tapestries, smoky smiles...
I left her warmth and entered outside
Where the silent people played musical chairs
Endlessly on the lawns.
All the people I knew
Each connected in unfathomable ways.
I thought I saw you and then you were gone
As another took your place.

I walked on,
Birds suspended in flight
Wings held aloft,
Cast their shadows on the fallen leaves.
Your face burned through the ages
Seemed we were forever.

I turned around then
And the house slowly entered itself
Crumbling, fading into nothingness.
Did you disappear then
Or when the evening was over
Were you never there
Maybe just a part of me?

I groped through the dusty days
Looking for open doors
My memories tiny points of light
Until the end began
And I remembered.