
One More Room
What takes the hat you meant to keep and hangs it in cobwebs by the stair What shuts the creaking door behind you and is finished before you are aware A ghost will ask you for your name then answer with the one you had Footsteps follow, half a beat behind The portraits blink, and one of them is glad One more room, one more clue The candles grin and wait for you A turn beneath the full moon A door you are not meant to use Solve the room before it solves you The house already knows the room you choose What marks the chair beside your own A tombstone, set before you sit What counts the dancers from above A bat, and it does not miss The railing offers you a hand The hand is colder than the air Smile for the empty place across It practiced smiling in your chair One more room, one more clue The candles grin and wait for you A turn beneath the full moon A door you are not meant to use Solve the room before it solves you The house already knows the room you choose The haunted house has asked you in The question was the tour Your shadow knows the answer The mirror isn't you Look at the portrait blinking The portrait looks back, new The riddle was never the room The riddle was you One more room, the last clue The candles grin, and they knew A turn beneath the full moon No door is left for you You solved the room The room solved you And the house keeps the name you used

