A Poet Reflects

My House Is Small and Almost

a hundred years old.  Inside,
the oaken posts and beams
make the living room seem
like a glade.  When friends
pronounce it comfortable,
it’s 1910 that comforts them,
and nothing I have done.

There must be a room
in the human heart
that’s older than the body.
And it’s good to be there
in that foursquare cathedral
where nothing has changed
since before we were made.

—Todd Boss, from yellowrocket (W. W. Norton & Co., 2008)