This Is About Memory. Poem by Myrtle Thomas

A House That Lived On A Country Road

the house that lived on a country road
held its breath and dreamed its dreams
its eyes watched the seasons change outside
and held its emotions close at heart
so long and so much longer

it had a lovely mother once and only once
her smile washed its walls in laughter
her arms held this house together
long ago and so much longer

it watched her pain as disease ate her life
and her tears were never wasted on the floor
while the walls embraced her frail form
and the wood stove couldn't warm her
so long ago and so much longer


it was the house that watched her leave
for it too died when she died in early February
that icy day came exactly on her birthday
as the sky cried icicles on her burial
so long ago and so much longer

the house left all alone on that old country road
seemed to weep for so many dark decades
and even the road passed it by without noticing
time erased its memories in rambling shambles
so long ago and so much longer

in death it too wandered down the old country road
and left without a burial - when the seasons changed its color
now there sits in its place a big house with strangers
who will never know the hardships it wore when death
took its mother!
so long ago and so much longer.