The Deserted Village Poem by David Mitchell

This desert place was once a village,
A place that breathed with life –
Eleven fam'lies lived and work'd,
And lived through joy and strife.

I would have walk'd straight past this ruin,
And nothing would have seen,
If it had not been shown to me,
That sorrowful empty scene.

The remnant of this settlement:
A half house and a wall.
Witness what grim destruction
Towns - and nations - can befall.

(Thursday,6th April,2006. Northumberland.)