GATEWAY

 

This portal

speaks to me of Narnia:

the last book, the last battle.

 

Long before Dr Who,

C.S. Lewis knew, we knew

of the stable bigger on the inside;

 

though that door was rough and wooden,

a portal can disguise itself

as a gate in a lichened stone wall.

 

But enter at your peril.

The Irish faery folk haunt castles

and barrows, and mortal souls

 

can wander their land for a day; returning

to find it is seven years or seventy.

And Narnia was a faery place.

 

Look, admire, beware; walk through –

only if you desire to be bewitched,

craving the adventure of your life.

 

Jaz Stutley

 

• Submitted in response to Poetry Prompt #21