House and Home, 1944

House and Home, 1944

House and Home, 1944

On the side verandah Mrs— takes another slice of
letting herself go. Flyscreens make the kindest shade.
They are all gone to history. Paddocks walk about the house.
The house is still in the family. Memory is
small-handed creatures, they unravel shadows down
corridors, in drifting rooms. A neighbour calls at the door.
How politely it comes in, the future—
padding across the boards in soft-soled shoes
till her armchair presides over dunes and swales—