Of This House (Where Its Memory Languishes On)

A companion piece to "Where My Memory Lingers On" by Wanda S. Paryla which can be found on the Key Publications Network site.

Of This House

(Where Its Memory Languishes On)

 

　

Fingered lines etched

through exhaled fog

of names and hearts,

doodled moments of

childhood dreams,

on panes now tainted

with time's neglect.

 

Marks carved yearly

upon the door frame.

Ages ago

now gone.

They halt,

as if life stopped.

Nothing now but scars

and reminders.

 

Rainy days played

upon the bedroom floor

where castles were built

and fields and forests bloomed.

Barren now, so empty,

as the desert of progression

swept in to fill the void.

 

The echo of little feet

Rebounds through the silence.

Memories now mourned.

A loss that shifts

its foundation

from a structured strength

to one of

dilapidated disposition.

 

"Where and why have you gone my precious little one?

Where has the world taken you? Here I wait...alone."

 

Of this house, its ghost does sit

and waits upon a child's visit

that, through time, has changed.

A haunted, distant woman now estranged.

It calls out in desperation and despair.

Slowly fading, lost in decay and disrepair.

 

"Where and why have you gone my precious little one?

I have no purpose now. Just a house. Not a home."

 

Legion

18SEP10

Reviews

[Helen Woodward]

If I had a book of your poetry I would read it all day long, you are such a gifted little Piggy :-) This is a haunting piece, which of course it is meant to be, but many writers cannot get that feeling of ghostly presence...you can and did. It also carries a sadness in its stanzas...A house is not a home when there are the missing, I know this first hand...I salute you for this thoughtful piece...
Chilling and warm all at once :-)

Helen~

[Luke Rawlings]

You came second in our first contest for the Samaritans Anthology! If you agree, I shall record your poem so it will be added to the anthology :)

[Legion]

Thanks. I agree.

[Relic]

I enjoyed this poem very much and I have to say I'm a little shocked that it only received one review. You've captured the essence of life from long go and its inhabitants so well. I also liked the little bouts of alliteration. As for the first stanza I myself would have put the line: "on panes now tainted" as the second instead of the sixth line leaving:

Fingered lines etched
on panes now tainted
through exhaled fog
of names and hearts,
doodled moments of
childhood dreams,
with time's neglect./now in...

But of course this is being picky of me and irrelevant to a fine poem that was crafted so well. Great writing on this one.