Poem: Not Now and Not Then

 Not Now and Not Then

Let me explain ‘bout the house in the glen,

It hasn’t been lived in,

Not now

And not then,

But yet it’s been furnished with this thing and that,

A cane on a chair; a worn leather hat,
 

 A mat on the porch says welcome my friend,

A clock ticks inside; a gong sounds at ten,

And then there’s the cat - he’s black as can be;

He sits in a window and stares at a tree,

On Halloween night the house draws a crowd,

Folks sit there and watch; they murmur out loud,
 

 Things seem to move from this room to that,

The cat might walk by with the worn leather hat,

It’s really so strange this Halloween show,

It’s kind of like watching a moving tableau,

So odd this old house that sits in a glen,

It hasn’t been lived in,

Not now,

 And not then.