House Guest, illustrated by Sybil Archibald

By Sybil Archibald. I'm thinking I better find a publisher willing to make a full-color book!

House Guest 

   

Plastic wrapped her from the inside,

entered as a gas and sealed her.

The home closed its doors to its bride,

repossessed the meaning of “where

the heart is.” And she might have died

on the curb but for a neighbor

whose own scarred heart bled quite enough.

After all, what’s a great room for?

“The Big One doesn’t make us tough,”

she said. “It just shakes off our pride.”

She gave her time to sleep and slough

the cellophane around her brain.

Too, there was the brother she loved

who had not made it past the strain.

On a clear afternoon, grief tore

the seal open and out she came,

shaking, wet, ready to begin.