The house, still unfinished, summer

 

Walk into the quiet,
feel your footsteps echo
open up the doors
and let the wind blow through

Try this: the screen doors, almost closed,
will whistle, even howl -
close them all the way, and you will hear
the birdsong again, and distant traffic,
and ravens holding court across the field

Daisies are rampant in the fields,
and bracken fern beyond them -
everything has shot up fast, yearning
towards seed

And as for us, we're just working
on learning to be quiet,
how to be quiet, and still progress,
how to be quiet and still
while wind and sun progress through summer,
how to inhabit our house with mastery,
how to inhabit this house enough
to find it finished.

©Wendy Mulhern
June 18, 2021