Ode To A Settlers Cottage

you have been standing
on your sturdy little stumps
for well over a hundred years

how many voices over time
are locked in these walls
i wonder

how did you
survive the cruel heat
cooking on a fuel stove
bathing in a tin tub
praying for rain
most of the time

i lie here
with a million midges
poised outside the mosquito net
intent on eating me alive

listening to the strange creaks
and soft rustles and cries of the night life outside
the wind blows across the plains
in all its wild beauty
the skies open
the angels empty their cutlery drawer
on to the roof

i smile
you must have too

Poets Pantry PU