Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, OLD TENANTS, by LYDIA KINGSWAY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

OLD TENANTS, by                    
First Line: Oh, you must live a long time with a house
Last Line: Lest lightly you obtrude upon some grief.
Subject(s): Houses


Oh, you must live a long time with a house
Before the ghosts of former tenants go --
Before you lightly say: "Oh, that's a mouse";
Or, "wind behind the casement down below."
For those who made a home of hearth and rafter
Are jealous for its fate and will return
To know that certainly there is new laughter,
And firelight where the logs were wont to burn.
And even after they are satisfied
That loving hands perform the household rites,
There are occasions when they are denied
Their sable sleep, and they return those nights:
Then softly step, and let your talk be brief --
Lest lightly you obtrude upon some grief.





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