"I WILL buy or build a brand-new house," she said. "I am tired of other people's left-off houses, Their noises, dirt, and splashes in the bathroom, And staircase always haunted by their dead. "A new house, in a newish neighbourhood, With windows everywhere all light and bright; Wired everywhere, and one room just like this Of course, primrose and black—that's understood. "I really mean it. No matter what I spend I'll move at Michaelmas: I can't stand the winters. I don't care about a garden or a garage, I want somewhere to be @3tired@1 in each weekend. "Everything new—when all my life I've had Everything secondhand—and all my own. You can't think how I dream and dream about it, Coming in here at night, tired out and sad." —Next Michaelmas! I didn't think it was that house. It @3was@1 brand-new, no one lay there before, A brand-new suburb, and quiet as could be. Primrose chrysanthemums and black cypress shadows Made it so like the thing she always wanted, She must be pleased at last: it was all her own— Somewhere to be tired in, and silent in, And not by other people's dead ones haunted; But round it other houses, white and stoney, All just the same in Death's prim garden suburb, With stones that lean together for good neighbours, And hers that stands erect, utterly lonely. Beneath, six polished boards, for walls, roof, flooring, With new joints starting under sinking water; And silence endless, and no motion ever Save the fantastic worm's perpetual boring. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...PSALM 8. MAN'S PLACE IN CREATION by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE A RUNNABLE STAG by JOHN DAVIDSON BY THE SEA by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI THE DEAD OF THE WILDERNESS by CHAIM NACHMAN BIALIK MELISSA by ROBERT LOUIS BURGESS DAMON AND SYLVIA by ROBERT BURNS ICH DIEN by GEORGE GORDON BYRON |