![]() I bathe, I dress, I console and encourage its inhabitants. The house is large, ancient and quiet as a morgue Since the telephone rarely rings and there's never anyone at the door. Silence is projected in the still-life on the shelf Of lonely vased dead dried flowers whose palsied petals have shrivelled and falllen solftly to the floor. So soft is the silence, the only stirring sounds above the stillness are: The occasional soft-spoken utterances of its clumsy cane-borne occupants, The scampering mice scathing across the floor just at suppertime, The surging sounds of water as the soiled clothes are soaked, hand rung and rinsed, The rude invasion of summer traffic noise through nearby shuttered window, And the creaking of the cricket settled for summer under the creaking floor. By early afternoon, I am home again to do my daily chores. My mood is suited to the time of day. |
Home | FeaturesME index | Comments |