I move, swiftly, out of pace
The room shifting
I am forgetting all about this place
Before I leave
Making sure
I will never come back to go through that door

Stomach knots when I clasp the handle
Rotate a 90 degrees
My feet heavy, my heart thumping, I freeze
Memories wafting through the opened crack
Curling around my face like an unwanted and unpleasant breeze
I freeze

Orison, a swarm succumbing to a feverish itch
Scratched it to catch it going nowhere above my head
Here in this white and grey pastel hallway
History’s hand comes down heavy handed
Clamps itself around my throat
It won’t let go until I let go
And I can’t let go of these maddening picture shows

Black around my cavernous eyes
Peer inside, glacial stalactites and dust mites
The heart commanding what my hand ghostwrites
As murmurs and noise and lights
Omnipresent or unclear, at least I know
It’s everywhere and it isn’t  mine
The hand that writes
Speaks my mind
The tongue it keeps does not play kind

The heart thuds and thumps once more
Loudly bringing it to the fore
All the faces that I’ve seen before
All their menacing smiling eyes

Turn around
Lock the door
Walk away

This house, this history and all its mysteries
They’re not yours anymore