Antechamber
       

The father is a dark door
the son may lean against
to listen for the locked room
of himself, his next life.

Later he will listen there
for the echo of his own
death. Meanwhile he becomes
a dark door for someone
else. It takes him years

to grow so broad and smooth,
so wooden and closed. He does
not feel the ear of his son
pressed close and listening.

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Copyright © 2020 Joshua Coben All rights reserved
from Night Chaser
David Robert Books
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission