Shadowy Shoulders

Darkness hangs heavy

Upon the shoulders

Of this empty house

Vacant rooms echo footsteps

Fleeting down the hallway

Cares of time

Unraveled slowly

Seams that bind

Loosened and rent

Dust enshrouds the rafters

Diminishing by small silent doses

Things forgotten

Once put in loving order

And kept with care

Strewn now willy-nilly

About the hollow floor

Oaths once sworn

Unremembered in the dust of the days

And the shadows of night

A new day dawns

Upon a slowly retreating yesterday

Hope hangs somewhere

In the twilight balance