AN EMPTY HOUSE
By Charles Steptoe
 

The old house is just here.

Imagine how it feels inside.

Drained, as when a storm has just passed.

The water pump stands in the yard.

The barn is gone though.

The pecan tree's shade has fallen upon a bedroom window

Through which I look beyond a dark and vacant room. 

The shade and empty darkness are traveled pass 

By the slender lighted fraction of a front window's view showing through.

They are all quiet now. 

Children don't run through the house anymore.

The wash has been taken in 

And the clothes line is coiled on the storage house wall.

Mom's apron hangs over a chair near the back door.

The skillets and pans are clean and tucked away.

I wonder what happens inside an empty house 

When the love is drained. 

The jokes and laughter are restrained.

As the kittens, when no one answered the door

We just went astray.
 
 

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CHARLES STEPTOE is a native of Amite County, Mississippi and St. Helena Parish Louisiana.  He received his BA degree from Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  Over the years, his work has appeared in various literary magazines and anthologies.