I Know This House

Third step from the top

of the stairs to the right

Squeaks like a mouse

as it’s stepped on at night

Light fixture flickers

on the cracked bathroom wall

Furnace kicks in with a bang

down the living room hall

Air bubbles in the piping

gurgle tunes with the steam

Wind on the windows

howls like a banshee’s wild scream

I walk through the dark

of the darkest of night

Like the blind I can maneuver

 no need for a light

Sights and sounds of an old house

          weathered with time’s age

Yet it’s now missing something

          like a book missing a page

I don’t hear your breathing

          like a lullabies prose

I can’t smell your perfume

          sweet to my nose

The space on our bed

          where you once laid your head

Lonely lies empty

          so much left unsaid

I lie down in the gloom

          where sunshine did live

This house no longer a home

          she just couldn’t forgive.