Door, Chepstow Castle

Chepstow Castle has guarded the border between Wales and England since the time of William the Conqueror. On a drizzly day, I stood in  the roofless great hall, climbed stone stairs worn down by 900 years of footsteps, and looked over the parapets down to the Wye River far below. I tried to find a way to put myself back into the time when this castle was full of life and purpose. It wasn't easy. Then I saw the door. Although it was cracked, warped and patched, the lattice crisscrossing spoke of our need to adorn, to beautify even the sturdiest and most utilitarian of objects. I ran my hand along its silvery no-color surface and somehow the door led me back in time. Later, I read that this door has been scientifically dated to no later than 1190. That door is a genuine link to the past.