A Door In Paris
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'twas years ago I strolled thru Paris proper
and came upon Le Pere Lachaise one night -
that crowded cemetery meant for paupers
soft glowing with one beam of lantern light
upon the rough stone wall there sat a fellow
with leather pants and music meant to sing
he spoke to me a voice, distinct and mellow
so I would know his name: "The Lizard King"
his face seemed so familiar, though I couldn't
recognize it 'mongst the people that I'd met
in person, and, (though I knew that I shouldn't)
pressed him, thinking French was what I'd get
he looked up from his manuscripts to smile
with a soft assurance gleaming in his eyes
and tho' my sense of French was oft' defiled
with perfect state-side English, he replied:
"why do you look for ghosts within a graveyard?
for death is naught but your devoted friend
save your fears for that in life that's painful
true freedom's waiting, patient, for the end"
he spoke about his ventures until midnight
the concerns of music, poetry, and senses
about all he had learned in ego's hindsight
a yearning for the unknown present tenses
the final thing he said was quite peculiar
and found its steady purchase in my core:
"it's life and death that ever try to fool ya
but in-between it all, there are The Doors"
'twas then I heard the bells of Chapelle de l'Est
ringing sweet to mark the midnight hour
yet, as I turned to thank him for the rest
in the spot where he'd been sitting - just a flower
and right behind the wall there stood a gravestone
a tiny shrine where people came to leave
small photos of Jim Morrison, the person
that I had talked with all that haunting eve ...
who had left me with no cause ... to NOT believe.
~ 1st Place ~ in the "Writers On The Storm" Poetry Contest, Chantelle Anne Cooke, Judge & Sponsor.
~ 2nd Place ~ in the "Doors" Poetry Contest, Anthony Biaanco, Judge & Sponsor.
Copyright © Gregory Richard Barden | Year Posted 2019
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