Portal

An archway, a portal,
Hidden doorway in a secret garden.
Touching my hand to the trees lining the path,
I step across its boundaries.

I enter another world,
Of stone and ice and wind,
Just five steps further,
And I lose sight of the way back home.

There is no turning back,
And so I venture forward,
This hidden land a vast expanse,
Which leads to who knows where.

Head down and eyes half-shut,
I place one foot
In front of the other,
Trudging on, so slowly.

Sometime later, I remember
A shape in some trees,
Sunlight through branches,
An opening of some kind?

And then it flees my memory,
And there is only ice and snow,
Where the wind battles on,
And so must I.