She opens in winter

as the darkness heavies
like a weighted blanket
comforting her in calm
settling solace sought
swirling silence surrounds
the thick gray cloud cover
weeping upon her window
panes placate the wanderer’s
physical will and climbs instead
into her moss-roofed
shed of imagination
like the magic wardrobe
she secrets through
thick firs into fantastical
worlds of danger and
adventure where good
and evil collide and
she must fight to survive
with quick wit
and fire she faces
each failure hungry
to open
the doorway
again