Woodstove


       Here is the promise
       of Mozart on an October afternoon,
       a lover's robe giving way
       to dividing hands in November,
       the consolation of undulating red ribbons
       in the whitest December,
       and recollected embers
       on the first night of the year.
       The trick, of course,
       is vigilance,
       that the flame is not lost
       in the dull February stretch,
       and honored
       through the easy heat of July.
       This house has held music,
       and more,
       hosted the morning flame
       and midnight ember.
       Like me,
       it has failed to observe
       the rule of the hearth.
       And that,
       is how 
       ghosts are built.


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