The Forgotten South is in Virginia.

  · 

"The House With Nobody In It"

In 1914, Joyce Kilmer wrote this poem. Just 3 years later, he enlisted and was deployed to France to fight in WWI. In 1918, Joyce was killed in action. He was only 31.

"Whenever I walk to Suffern along the Erie track

I go by a poor old farmhouse with its shingles broken and black.

I suppose I’ve passed it a hundred times, but I always stop for a minute

And look at the house, the tragic house, the house with nobody in it.

I never have seen a haunted house, but I hear there are such things;

That they hold the talk of spirits, their mirth and sorrowings.

I know this house isn’t haunted, and I wish it were, I do;

For it wouldn’t be so lonely if it had a ghost or two.

This house on the road to Suffern needs a dozen panes of glass,

And somebody ought to weed the walk and take a scythe to the grass.

It needs new paint and shingles, and the vines should be trimmed and tied;

But what it needs the most of all is some people living inside.

If I had a lot of money and all my debts were paid

I’d put a gang of men to work with brush and saw and spade.

I’d buy that place and fix it up the way it used to be

And I’d find some people who wanted a home and give it to them free.

Now, a new house standing empty, with staring window and door,

Looks idle, perhaps, and foolish, like a hat on its block in the store.

But there’s nothing mournful about it; it cannot be sad and lone

For the lack of something within it that it has never known.

But a house that has done what a house should do, a house that has sheltered life,

That has put its loving wooden arms around a man and his wife,

A house that has echoed a baby’s laugh and held up his stumbling feet,

Is the saddest sight, when it’s left alone, that ever your eyes could meet.

So whenever I go to Suffern along the Erie track

I never go by the empty house without stopping and looking back,

Yet it hurts me to look at the crumbling roof and the shutters fallen apart,

For I can’t help thinking the poor old house is a house with a broken heart."

All reactions:

7Françoise Dhulesia, Sem Xtz and 5 others

14

Share

Most relevant



Françoise Dhulesia

"[...] poor old house is a house with a broken heart."

I have loved this, Sushama; I recently realized that an old house has a soul, whatever its state, and though it is not commonly said, a house is alive, listens, breathing its secrets through the p… 

See more

• 1y
• Love
• Reply
• Hide

Active

Sushama Karnik

Françoise Dhulesia I liked this stanza: "But a house that has done what a house should do, a house that has sheltered life,

That has put its loving wooden arms around a man and his wife,

A house that has echoed a baby’s laugh and held up his stumbling … 

See more

• 1y
• Like
• Reply

Françoise Dhulesia

Sushama Karnik I agree. A house breathes stories in the tiniest of its little corners. I had photographed this house in late Feb 2020 as I coud remember it during its "glory" time. It was harrowing to see it in that state. Now, a lovely small developm… 

See more

• 1y
• Like
• Reply
• Hide
• Edited

Françoise Dhulesia

• 1y
• Like
• Reply
• Hide

Françoise Dhulesia

• 1y
• Like
• Reply
• Hide

Active

Sushama Karnik

Françoise Dhulesia A house that had been lived in and then abandoned after its era is over leaves an aura from the past. Gyorgy Fulop annd Erika Vees had uploaded photos of a deserted house which they happened to discover in the course of one of their … 

See more

• 1y
• Like
• Reply

Françoise Dhulesia

Sushama Karnik Yes I do remember the derelict beauty of the house shot by Gyorgy and how the textures and light in the photographs were enhancing a sense of silent loss and poignant stories to imagine and bring back to life.

At that time, I was not co… 

See more

• 1y
• Like
• Reply
• Hide

Active

Sushama Karnik

Unfortunately all those poems were lost because I could not save them in the hectic days when the closure of G+ was imminent. I had loved those pictures and the poems but they are neither traceable nor retrievable in memory now. They made a life story … 

See more

• 52w
• Like
• Reply
• Edited

Active

György Fülöp

Sushama Karnik Unfortunately, I lost many of the poems. But maybe they can be found in your blog. At the time, I borrowed your poems from there for the pictures. We have the photos of the abandoned burnt house. Those pictures formed the material of an exhibition.

• 51w
• Like
• Reply
• Hide

Active

Sushama Karnik

György Fülöp In the hasty days of the closure of G+ I could barely save all the poems . Many were lost. If you have the photos please share. Francoise and I would be too happy to see them again.

• 51w
• Like
• Reply

Active

György Fülöp

Sushama Karnik Recently, I am up in the virtual world twice a week. But I will fulfill your request. I will post a selection of those pictures this week or next week. I will label you as You asked and this is an order for me.

•