Build Him a Door

The house was right to lift its walls To name the rooms and mark the halls To keep the weather from the bed To draw a line through fear and dread The locks were good, the lamps were kind The law gave shelter to the mind No shame in brick, no fault in glass No blame in wanting night to pass The wolves are real The dark is cold The house is good And worth the hold Build him a door Not a sermon on the stair Build him a door Not a label and a file Build him a door Before the false hands name his need Build him a door Before the wound becomes a creed He is not wrong to want a place Build him a door Not a label and a file Build him a door Before the false hands name his need Build him a door Before the wound becomes a creed He is not wrong to want a place A weight to bear, a tested grace A name that fits, a work that stays A way to spend his strength in days Do not confuse the need with blame Or mock the hunger for a frame If you leave absence at the core Do not act shocked at what you find instead The debt is real Though peace was won The house still owes Its surplus son Build him a door Not a sermon on the stair Build him a door Not a label and a file Build him a door Before the false hands name his need Build him a door Before the wound becomes a creed Then find them honour Fit for peace A room for burden A rightful place Not wolves, not worship Not borrowed war But something worthy Of what they are Build him a door The house can bear to make one more Build him a door For the sons left pacing by the wall Build him a door Let purpose enter without shame Build him a door And call adulthood by its name Build him a door Not pity, not a managed file Build him a door Not one more soft, deferring smile Build him a door The house was worth the cost before Build him a door And make it part of the house The wolves are real The house is good Build him a door The house still should The walls were worth The work they bore Now let them mean A little more