Beneath the Ancestral Roof
I entered where the ancient corridors Held dust and dusk in equal, solemn keep; The house seemed built of centuries and stone, And every silent chamber seemed asleep. Yet by the hearth, where dying embers glowed, A little figure stood beyond the flame; She bore no terror of the grave or night, But looked upon me quietly, as if by name. Her eyes were deep as wells of vanished years, Her face as pale as moonlight on the floor; I knew not whether she was dream or shade, Nor why my heart had known her long before. I asked no question of her troubled eyes, Nor sought to learn what kept her spirit there; I sat beside the cold and ancient wall, And let the silence breathe its secret air. Then slowly came the tale she could not tell In life, but carried through the years unseen: Of greedy hands that measured blood and land, And weighed a child against a family’s gain. They spoke of lineage, inheritance, and name, Of fields that must remain within the line; And beneath such words, so grav...