an empty year /darkened

Darkened days A year since the HTH was closed, now on the verge of dilapidation The ivy grows across the shuttered brow now blind to the landscape below Water and heat have been disconnected, the leaves gathering in the eves Conspiring an overflow Into the house, warping the herringbone floor (actually it's staff an tail) The exhibitions long gone, The echoes of literature faded Just a bitter aftertaste of local beer Gone stale ( the drips carefully accumulated have been set aside and run down...) A sorry state for all concerned And a harbinger of worse to come I fear.

It seems the house and gardens are protected Protected from what and for whom? Not the winter magpies They laugh at al passers by And the shivering beasts Left behind