"my first house" - 12/14/2017

in my first house there is
a stretch of red lines going up the doorjamb:
three foot one
three foot eleven.
four foot four.
below, lines in blue:
two foot ten and three foot nine.
the lines are now fading away into white
as things tend to do.

in my first house there are
three bedrooms: two small, one big.
one for me and another for my brother
one for my mother and my father.
my father made the couch
his bedroom towards the end.
the rooms are all empty now,
little marks in the carpet
from where the beds stood watch
over discontented sleeping.

in my first house there are
drawings on the wall --
under the paint
of course. I drew
families holding hands
and brothers on swings
and a sun decked
all in yellow.
it was painted white,
as things tend to go.

- Simon