Houses Empty

Houses Empty


As they blur past me
I wonder if this isn’t
The most motion they’ve seen in years.

I wonder, before this,
“What was their last
scheduled appointment?”

The time, the last time,
Their dwellers said
“Let’s move.”

In that last moment of action and meaning
They became the opposite of what they were
And what they were meant to be.

A skeleton left to the elements.
Spoil to whomever wanted it.
But…nobody did.

So stark in their emptiness and hollowness.
Without them, the echoes of life
Seemed to magnify their
Square footage of nothing.

And so it didn’t seem fair
When my daughter said
Of the play town houses

All decorated for Christmas
With trains bustling
In and amongst.
The tiny citizens skating and skiing and singing.

“I wish I could live in those houses.”

And in that one statement
She lavished more care and longing on these figments of imagination
Than the empty houses had known for far too long.

Leave a Reply