Envoi Poem by Daniel Brick

The Dweller in the House

There is only one who dwells
in this house, and he often
feels he and the house are one being.
The builder made a complicated arrangement
with this dweller, and then left permanently
for other unknowable endeavors. Are you surprised
the dweller moves very slowly? Even his thoughts
move cautiously and often cluster together
into a veritable symphony of integrated musings.
In the silence of the house a music unfolds
in his mind. The dweller wakes to the early morning
light and feels the light permeate his body and
ignite his mind. His soul simply rejoices.
He walks the length of each of his three floors.
He pauses at each window, leans forward and
looks out into the park at the hedges, the exotic
trees, and the twelve flower beds. As he looks over
these green growing things, the dweller senses
something slowly, regularly rising within himself:
he smells a smiling aroma of roses and breathes
deeply and continues breathing deeply. He is
stunned by the brightness of green tree leaves,
and the hedges seem to be dancing their version
of a minuet accompanied by the South Wind.
Each window in turn excites these emotions,
they quiet down as he seeks the next window
and the next uplift, until he reaches the attic,
with its one stained-glass window through which
tri-colored light pours over him. He is both
warmed and illumined, and he cries out
in an ecstasy of long-postponed joy. He knows
he and the house are suffused with all available
light and warmth. In a few moments a great calm
has absorbed all of this energy and all beings
and all things are blessed, blessed, blessed.