Colin Mitchell Williams Poet Free verse

Skeleton Key

Skeleton Key



I found my hands were shaking
When I discovered the thousand keys
Running through an open landscape
Surrounded by a thousand unopened doors

I knew I had to find an answer
To a question I couldn’t formulate or clue
And all the doors they had a sign there
Saying “ The Truth Lays Here Beyond ”

But a thousand keys in my head were jangling
To the locks of a thousand doors
And I didn’t know which one of which
Should I begin to try them all

So I closed my eyes and danced my finger
With the eeny meany miney mow
Chose one door and just one key
And let it lead me to a maybe of what maybe the key will be

And to my surprise the lock turned and the portal swung ajar
So I stepped across the threshold to the truth, which lay beyond
Containing my anticipation of knowing the answer
To a question I never could surmise

But as the door swings closed behind me
I couldn’t believe the sight my eyes could see
A landscape of a thousand unopened doors surrounding me
And the sound of a thousand jangling keys

Seems I hadn’t learned my lesson
When I opened up the other one
Should I try my luck one more time
Pick a random door and randomize the key

Now you would think I would have surrendered
Thrown my hat and quietly walked away
Shrugged the confounding off my shoulders
And put it down to pointless futility

Of finding one lock
To fit a thousand keys

Every door had a sign there
Saying “ The Truth Lays Here Beyond ” 

I could have sat there and pondered the fortune
Of discovering another hopeless mystery
In a key full of landscapes  
Filled with the locked doors of my memory

How much time had passed before the question came to me
When I realized all I needed was just one single key
To find the truth beyond the doors
And the answer it was
Me

This is what you find
When you begin to open
This is what you find
Behind the lock doors of your mind

All the answers only have one
Inescapable truth that you must find
It really doesn’t matter
How you couch the question

The answer to the conundrum couldn’t be simpler
It couldn’t be more true
All the answers there are
Are already inside of
You

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Sharon Winter February 22, 2009 at 4:19 AM Great metaphorical write with an important message. I am actually thinking of the Wizard of Oz and no place like home with the answer being right in front of Dorothy the whole time. Well, anyway, just getting back for a little bit. Great to read you Colin. Love, Shar

Christopher Higgins February 20, 2009 at 1:28 PM Brother I love this piece a lot..the metaphorical doors..there are many in my life and I have walked through the wrong one all the time.. It is true that the answers lie within..its up to us to find out exactly what that truth is..I am digging this..much to ponder and much truth in the words you have penned..Thanks for the love on my poetry.

Carrie Richards February 20, 2009 at 11:42 AM I love the way you end this poem.....sometimes we stuggle through a maze all of our lives, and the right answer to all the questions we have had...simply right there before our eyes..all along! You are gifted in your writes!! ~ Carrie