Slowly opening, The door lets us enter into this newly painted room, And we are surrounded by signs of Another spring; in the curtains Hints of flowers, on the walls The paper's sprouting leaves. Then a warm passage Leads us away, down the deep lane, Further into the old house, Where another room waits for us. A bulb burns down, heating The wall-to-wall greenness Of the patterned summer, Burning to brown arms and faces Which have come into its light. Now it is time to move again, Away from the brown and into yellow. Draught fights draught听around Cracked window panes, letting The summer drain away. Greens go, Trickling through the cracks; The patterned colours run, And we are in a white-washed room. The furniture has been stored away, And our echoes chide us for coming so far. There is frost in the window panes, And frost in the burnt-out fireplace. What is left for us now? Another house? Another series of rooms To lead us through the year? We must wait for the return Of colour, of heat and the Soft furnishings of another spring. |