Elizabeth Steinglass is hosting the Poetry Friday Roundup today.
Even so, the house feels like an old soul…especially at night. I love imagining the life lived here before we Smiths took over stewardship. Who else sat on the porch, after the day’s work, to see the sun set over the valley? Who else climbed the steep stairwell, longing for the comfort of warm blankets on a frigid winter night? How many took their first and last breaths within these walls? Night time seems to ask these questions. I found the poem below some time ago, and remembered it last night, when the floors creaked and I thought I also heard them sigh.
Nights Our House Comes to Life by Matthew Brennan
Some nights in midwinter when the creek clogs
With ice and the spines of fir trees stiffen
Under a blank, frozen sky,
On these nights our house comes to life.
It happens when you’re half asleep:
A sudden crack, a fractured dream, you bolting
Upright—but all you can hear is the clock
Your great-grandfather found in 1860
And smuggled here from Dublin for his future bride,
A being as unknown to him then as she is now
To you, a being as distant as the strangers
Who built this house, and died in this room
Some cold, still night, like tonight,
When all that was heard were the rhythmic clicks
Of a pendulum, and something, barely audible,
Moving on the dark landing of the attic stairs.
Going to Walden.z 
Thanks for sharing this lovely poem by new-to-me poet Matthew Brennan. Seems like he wrote it just for you! I love picturing your old farmhouse and imagining its history. Those walls have many stories to tell.
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Lovely AND spooky. Thanks for sharing it.
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Lovely winter night poem! I’ll remember what the poet says about those strange little noises the house makes as it settles down for the night and not be alarmed that someone is walking through. If my Cocker Spaniel doesn’t bark, all is well.
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My home is not quite that old, now 70, but older than my other home, and creaking happens! Your 2nd paragraph is a poem itself, Tara, “Night time seems to ask these questions.” And, I smiled at the thought of smuggling a grandfather clock. The poem is perfect for your own musings. I do love hearing about your house, your home! Merry Christmas!
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Oh, my. What a wonderful poem. A keeper for sure! I grew up in an old home and I loved the sounds it made. Maybe that’s why I also love cemeteries and history and old things. Alas, I married someone who likes modern, un-fussy and new. It’ made today’s visit especially nice for me. Thank you.
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What a gift, to be living in an old-old house with stories to tell and secrets to keep!
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Lovely poem. Thanks for sharing it. Our current house is much too young (but hopefully it will wake up as it ages), but for 15 years we lived in an old house build in the 1920’s. There were all kinds of legends from the bootlegging era to go with it, and I often wondered what stories those walls could tell.
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What a perfect poem for your home’s creaks and sighs…just lovely.
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