Uninhabitat Poem by Diana van den Berg

The family of the neighbours I had at the time I wrote the poem, had broken up and the house was sad, but I have seen several families move in and out over the years, and I felt at the time I wrote the poem that the house could be happy again - and in fact it was - when a new family moved in and the nextdoor garden rang again with the delightful shouts and screams of children at play, and the house was happy again - but then that family moved out for a while and the house was sad, but they are now back again and the house is smiling bravely, though undergoing some minor surgery... but the dark side is that the house and I are gut-wrenched at the story of a precious, darling, Boerbul puppy called Ben – but the family took Ben away and I don’t know where he is, so I can no longer save him, though I tried and tried and tried.