The Hallway Of Life Poem by Grant House

The hallway of life
Has many doors
All of them are yellow
Each one has a small doormat in front of it
There is a green exit sign halfway down the hall
A colorful piece of art hangs at the other end
It is
Pun intended
A terminal vista
From here and now
It seems very far away and small

That's it
Life is a hall
With many yellow doors
And an exit sign halfway down
Life has a colorful piece of art at the end

The hall is brightly lit from above
Always

People who are in the rooms
Are doing all sorts of things we don't know about
This is your hall
Behind the doors may be halls for others
When you are walking down your hall
Nearly all the action is at right angles to the direction you are going

Develop your peripheral vision
Open your heart
See implicit colors
Feel your body breathing
The blood flowing without effort
Hear the muffled voices
The occasional loud cry
Listen for your own voice
The one within
The one without words who is saying
Wordlessly of course
Things like
Peace be still
Find your way
It can be done
Thank goodness for today

Tonight walking down the street after dark to meet friends at a fine restaurant
A small family approached me
A mom and her friend or maybe her cousin or sister
A boy and girl
An itty bitty baby bundled up in a baby carriage
And a small boy walking next to the baby carriage who could not stop laughing and giggling
I mean bent over double laughing
At absolutely nothing I could tell
Maybe something the baby did

As we neared one another
Try as I might to focus ahead to leave them alone
A smile began to light up my face
I started involuntarily to laugh a little
Then more
Just as we passed
I began to laugh out loud
The little boy was laughing
I was laughing
I don't know why
But it felt good
I kept laughing and giggling in small fits nearly all the way to the restaurant a block away

Like walking down life's hall
Passing all those doormats and yellow doors
In the bright light
Walking right past the green exit sign
Hearing someone behind one of the doors
Laughing
Or crying
Finding myself authentically affected
Right down in my core
A direct connection where we all are one
Smiling and happy
Laughing to myself or right out loud
Being sad
Moved
Touched

We are all connected
Even when we feel isolated
We affect one another
In ways that are inexplicable
Wonderful
Magical
And sometimes
Profound

Okay, so this is the it:
Life is a hall
With many yellow doors
And a green exit sign halfway down
Life has a colorful piece of art at the end
And if you are lucky
Crossing your path
Walks a happy little boy
Who makes you laugh