A house on the Height

an abandoned house saps the spirit
with its nagging and chilling emptiness,
a black hole that sucks out the shimmering
warm sun to throw shadows and ice over
the hazy lanes of imagination

a broken empty house on the height
echoes relentless gloom and tales of woe
through each of its missing chilling window panes
missing pages of a horror story that solicit
entries from the haunted mind of
an innocent who has lost his way
in the dark of night

the overgrown grass strays haphazardly
and almost in a haste to doors, windows, walls
and collapsing roof to claim its static prey
they wake up a body of monks (ghost bumps)
with their reverberating aum aum chants
thathave the negative effects of sending
shivers down one's spine

a torn and soiled jacket strewn
across the menacing garden
a little baby's drum, holed and beaten
out of shape by the unkind weather
carry with them broken dreams

an empty house wears itself out sooner
than an occupied house a world shunning
loner, who eventuallydescends into despair,
a wretched soul losing all its charm and love

john tiong chunghoo

Callie Carroll (8/10/2008 4:28:00 PM) Excellent! Thank you for including your source of inspiration; I too use this technique (reading is my fuel) . What a perfect way to describe the way a decrepit house captures us, 'saps the spirit with its nagging and chilling emptiness.' You communicate perfectly the despair.