1/ 
You close your eyes, keep them dark for hours.
All the helping hands in the room not,
in fact, helpful at all—only watching. You 
do not see this. You are listening for a knock. 
When it comes, your only job is to push
open the door. 
Here's the trick: 
you have to open it Only you.
with your whole body. Only yours.

2/ 
You keep your eyes open because this is the one thing
you can do. You cannot help open the door; it is not yours
to pass through. Whatever you see, you can only wait. Watch 
the door shudder & shake. 
Schroedinger's door: on the other side 
there is nothing, yet. On the other side
there is everything.

3/ 
Here there is nothing 
to see. Instead your eyes feel bright heat 
at the end of a long hall & you know 
your family is there, just behind the door. Later
the three of you will each have different memories 
of how long you waited to cross the threshold into the world 
of the dying. Much later, 
at the end of your death, 
you will rejoin that same light; 
be forgiven for still calling it life.