Bereft.

I have lost count of the times I have moved house with my family.  About 14 times in 15 years. Each time you leave a house, you leave memories behind ... and often a sock or two!  We spent two years in our last house ... and I worry about the starlings that get trapped in the fire box ... who will let them out? But the mice will have a field day, scurrying around in peace. No doubt they will find a few crumbs left under the stove - it is fixed to the wall and can't be moved! That's my excuse anyway!

Echoes of childish squabbles are
all that remain in the corners of
the empty house.

Dust laughs upon the window sills.
All else has gone.  No trace of life.
Just an abandoned torso – Lego man
with all his headless charm!
A mouse scuttles along the kitchen floor
stops, whiskers quivering, eyes alert.

 But there is nothing left to fear.

Crumbs of history jostle between cracked tiles

smudged handprints crawl up painted walls
carefully calibrated marks of age adorn the
door frame; celebrating life’s milestones
a leaking tap drips to its own watery tune.

 All that's left to measure time.

Starlings scrabble down the flue
desperate to escape the fire box
before suffocating  in a bed of ash.
Spiders spin their silvery webs
a silken trap for half-drunk flies.
the rest, feet up, from deadly fumes.

 There’s no one left to care.

Do not despair.  New souls will one day

fill your emptiness with joy.
Eager footsteps will trample through your rooms
discovering treasures in your deepest cupboards
lego man will spring to life once more –
re-connected with the bits that make him whole.

Shed no more tears upon those empty panes of glass.