A Summer Place
This house has been full
Filled all summer long
In every room by night
The soft sounds of sleep
The need to creep
Hush do not disturb
In this room and that
The snuffle of babies
Who murmur in dreams
By day the kettle, the toaster
Popping and humming, the drum
Drum of the dryer, dishwasher
Clatter and chatter as meals are
Prepared, wine for the cook
For her helpers, all of us busy
Every chair brought to use
Crowded the table
The sofas and stools
Groupings on terraces
Under parasol shades
Baked in the sunshine
Cool in the pool
Or picking the produce
To chop for the plate
This house on the hill
Has spread out a welcome
To old friends and new
A party unending, evolving
In comings and goings, airport collections
Serendipity and chance
A movie, a story, a poem, a dance
The tale of a house
Brimming and blessed
With love and with laughter
All summer long
This house has been full
Filled all summer long
In every room by night
The soft sounds of sleep
The need to creep
Hush do not disturb
In this room and that
The snuffle of babies
Who murmur in dreams
By day the kettle, the toaster
Popping and humming, the drum
Drum of the dryer, dishwasher
Clatter and chatter as meals are
Prepared, wine for the cook
For her helpers, all of us busy
Every chair brought to use
Crowded the table
The sofas and stools
Groupings on terraces
Under parasol shades
Baked in the sunshine
Cool in the pool
Or picking the produce
To chop for the plate
This house on the hill
Has spread out a welcome
To old friends and new
A party unending, evolving
In comings and goings, airport collections
Serendipity and chance
A movie, a story, a poem, a dance
The tale of a house
Brimming and blessed
With love and with laughter
All summer long
Hounoux, 22nd September 2009, well past midnight, for the 26 visitors
Dear Sally, Your poems not only bless me, they show me how to be a better poet! Their theme for me is joy begotten of love, and shared to beget yet more joy. They make me understand how Paul could say that Jesus, "For the joy set before him, endured the cross". So we take the risks and endure the pain that comes from loving, because there is also so much joy in it!
ReplyDeleteGoodness Jenny, how you do speak to my condition this afternoon! I woke up this morning feeling so very unjoyful- very low infact. Though we still have warmth and sunshine, autumn is in the air, and I think I have gone into falling leaves and loss mode. So I wrote a sad poem about that to get me going and out of bed, but then thought I can't post it, as I do think self-pity is deeply unattractive. Have been trying to Be Glad a la Pollyanna, but struggling. Am about to hit the garden and the weeding, and hope that will raise my spirits and snap me out of it! Meanwhile your words have really really gone home and helped. Thank you Jenny xxx
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