Poem: Raw Wood

Raw Wood

The furniture is in place, but
it has taken weeks to open the wall
between the two homes,
to transform the tiny rooms
into a spacious space where light
and life move freely throughout the day.

Such a task! For like therapy, this demolition is not
the stuff of wrecking balls, but a careful cutting away
to open the spaces, yet still preserving the beams
that give your walls strength. There are wires
to avoid, or re-route, and the uncertainty
of an old house, the danger of ruining its soul.

But at last it is done, and then comes the rebuilding,
slow and methodical, piecing together each new frame,
each new bit of trim, is' raw wood with it's fresh cut color
you are suddenly loath to paint, for it symbolizes a vision
created by destruction and rebuilding both, to something
new, fresh, alive, a bringing together of two houses into one,
your home, and heart unite, fresh, and singing with light.

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The picture is actually of my dining room, as seen from my living room. Some of you (my friends) know the place I bought in West Pawlet, Vermont was a duplex when I bought it and I've been opening it up to a single home, including knocking out the wall between these two rooms. You can click on the image to get a larger version.

Tom