CASTLE DESCENT

I stand before the old castle, 
its walls breathing centuries through cold stone.  
A single torch flickers beside the winding stair,  
inviting me into its patient shadow,  
where every corridor holds a sleeping memory,  
waiting behind each half-opened door.  

I step through the first door,  
feeling the hush settle over the castle.  
Dust rises like disturbed memory,  
softening the edges of every stone.  
Light thins into a trembling shadow,  
guiding me downward along the stair.  

The air cools as I follow the stair,  
each turn revealing another ancient door.  
My breath mingles with the drifting shadow,  
as if the dark itself belongs to the castle.  
My hand trails the rough-grained stone,  
searching for something shaped like memory.  

Rooms open like chambers of memory,  
each one deeper than the last along the stair.  
I touch a wall and feel the pulse beneath the stone,  
as though the past waits behind the next door.  
The silence thickens inside the castle,  
gathering itself into a single shadow.  

I pause where the corridor narrows into shadow,  
listening for the echo of some old memory.  
The whole world seems held inside this castle,  
its stories descending down the endless stair.  
I steady myself before another door,  
its hinges worn smooth in the stone.  

At last I reach the chamber carved from living stone,  
a room lit only by its own shadow.  
There is no handle on the final door~  
only the weight of unspoken memory.  
I sit on the lowest step of the stair,  
feeling the heartbeat of the castle.  

In the quiet castle, I rest against the stone,  
letting the stair cradle me in its shadow,  
and the last door opens inward into memory.

deepmeaningfulsestina

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