Writer's challenge entry. Thanks to chibi-anna-chan for the prompt: lullaby.

Stand, a silhouette, in darkened doorways
portals that lead
(can you hear it?)
to the rushing waves and gently swirling sands
stretching, falling just short of your line of view.
Sea salt and the promise of tomorrow's sparkling sunshine
on the water.
Or dark forests and starry skies,
whispering from a breeze, rustling,
a soft chorus surrounding, enveloping,
the faint scent of jasmine, gardenia, of
wild grass and damp wood, of fresh air.
Just there, beyond your gentle step
The ground under your feet can become springy and supple, woven with green,
can become sand that welcomes your bare toes, cool water swelling
around your ankles and pulling gently back again,
can become an expanse of desert, a cavernous
purple-shadowed canyon,
surreal and dreamlike in the nearly-set sun, a sliver of blue and of fierce fire
against a soft navy blanket pulled over the sky
to say goodnight.
It's all there.
(Can you hear it?)
Beyond the echoing quiet, the lonely lullaby
of the clock in the kitchen ticking out seconds eternally
too loud in the silence
to you
and you alone.
Stand in the dark doorway
(Pretend there's someone waiting for you, stirring just beyond
a child reaching for you, a child drawing you in with chubby arms, tiny hands, with
young, sleep-heavy eyes and soft hair, or perhaps
a sheet-draped lover, all smooth skin and secret smiles and a curtain of enchantment,
or maybe you can hear an echo from long ago, from--)
This hollow, achingly desperate place
but surely there is magic left yet, some last untapped vestiges,
hidden treasure to be discovered with wonder, perhaps,
left in the closet or under a pile of clothes or perhaps just
through the door in that dark room, that passage to anywhere
(--from a long-forgotten lullaby
still echoing from your weary, aching soul,
from the sweet soft memories,
from the dark enticing mystery beyond that doorway where
you stand now, waiting, wishing, hoping still--
can you hear it?)