Suddenly the house is cold and empty,
Quiet as stone, and the mountain road
Strung out like a constellation of stars
Before us has disappeared in the earth
Like a memory of light, a dead serpent,
And the fabled garden of ignorance.
Inside and out, everything is hard
And sharper than a needle, a silence
That goes deeper than it should, ice
In every vein, heart stilled and afraid.
This is no place to live, nowhere in
The midst of plenty, a desert of want.
