The House In Newenham Street
I have come to this house
along the Slí Dála
the ancient route
from Dublin to the west
Brought all my confusion
mania and suffering
and placed it on the black mantle-piece
where dust gathers
taking the hard edge off the pain
A woman lived here once
perhaps she too
set the menorah on the black mantle-piece
branches like pollarded willow shoots
and remembered Lithuania
the army of the Tsar
pogroms and death
the scapegoats of those
who believed in Christ
Or maybe she heard as I do now
the humming of the walls
or the sonata from a piano
played by the hands of someone long dead
or found comfort
in the curtains
fabric folded
like hands in prayer.
– Teri Murray
Photographs by Natalie Woociker:
Beautiful piece Terri