Shut the Windows But Open the Door

I have sat here for long Beside the burning stove, in the lingering smoke Of the spices and heat My face burns and my hand hurts My eyes fill with tears But I dare not I dare not cross The threshold I was younger, much more beautiful My hair of black, my skin - chestnut brown But now it has scales And the sparkle that I had in my eyes Was slowly gone, vanished before I even knew And now all they have is the steel of uncertainty Death and pause. I look at my image Her eyes, her nose, her hair like mine The same glow, sparkle and shine And years from now She will be let in a similar dysfunctional functionality And her years and life Will go down the loop Of every day death and no new life. But if we go The brunt or the blow I will have her killed And die myself, never get off The tide that will wash me And drown me in a sea of wavering lows I hand her some cash, a bread And whatever little of the fire I had left As she walked out of the brown wooden door I stayed in Awaiting worse, But a future For my daughter who today crossed that door.