The door’s locked now.

The telltale false ivy

Creeping along the doorway

Has been sheered away

And the blankets of fall leaves and action figures

Blossoming on the lawn

Have long since vanished.

That door wasn’t always locked, you know.

It used to be open all the time

All day

I’d walk in, just like that

As if I lived there

Into a home scented of crisp juniper, of cats and dogs and Christmas trees

The banister along the stair shone

Multicolored points of light

A galaxy of Technicolor stars

Mapping my way up the mountain of stairs

Where after a long, perilous journey

Wracked with peril

I’d finally arrive to Caitlin’s Domain

Where we would plan the day’s excavation

Gathering our small army of stuffed minions

And weave tales of exploits

So daring

So treacherous

It would have made the Power Rangers,

Those putrid false prophets of the playground

Look like a band of slightly disgruntled Smurfs!

Dalmatians guided by canine intuition alone

Braved harsh winter winds and a mad devil woman

Out for the lives of their puppies in the name of fashion

Acting out the playful romp of lion cubs on the savannah

Just slipping from the dripping, merciless jaws of hyenas

Laughing and scorning them as again and again we humiliated the savage beasts

Only for the most sacred things did we pause

A grilled cheese “sammich”

The thirty-fifth showing of “The Lion King” followed by and hour of Roadrunner

The trampoline that rocketed brave travelers to Neuva X-279

And the occasional root bear float

These sacred things and nothing more could deter us from our task

And when the daring task was over

As we tried to catch our breath

I’d tell the daring Caitlin

Brave survivor of tonsil removal

And attacks by a monster of a younger sibling

How lucky she was

To have rainbow stars in her house

You know, I’d pop in that door right now to tell her that…

But that door’s not open anymore…

It’s locked now.