Light Showers
by Kathryn Lindskoog

Abode

Weald and Downland Open Air Museum at Singleton, Chichester, Sussex*

To Ian, who pushed and pulled me in my wheelchair
    along the unpaved paths


Look how they built-
With oak and with wattle,
Look how they thatched, bricked, and devised.
Look how they filled in, expanded, revised.
All the stones. All the trim tiles.
Can you abide my architecture?
I'm a little cottage, still building,
With aching rooms empty now
Except for humility and a live fire.

Look how they worked-
With tread mill and mill wheel,
Look how they pumped and plumbered and burned.
Look how they hammered, gathered, and learned.
All the making. All the trying.
Can you abide my industry?
Work is a kind of shelter, second only to love,
And without its protection
I would have perished in my first winter.

Look how they are taken-
The wise and the foolish,
Look how they all have gone, all have gone down.
Look how they passed away, laughter and frown.
All the loving. All the dying.
Can you abide my heaviness?
Your taking me was inner and outer.
Your taking me was movement and rest.
Your taking me was building the best.

* "A fascinating collection of rescued historic buildings from South-East England, reconstructed on a beautiful 40 acre Downland site. Exhibits include Medieval houses, a working watermill, a Tudor Market Hall, a charcoal burners' camp, rural craft workshops, barns and agricultural buildings. The Museum is also a Country Park with a millpond and woodland walks."   Visit the Weald and Downland Web-site

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