Four Walls and a Roof
Posted: Sun Feb 11, 2018 5:28 pm
Four Walls and a Roof
I write a lot of poetry about the great outdoors.
I’m not sure this amounts to a confession,
But I mostly live surrounded by a roof, four walls and floors,
And I wouldn’t want to give the wrong impression.
There really is no substitute for keeping out the weather,
For shielding sun and wind and rain and hail,
For stopping you from getting to the far end of your tether.
Unlike a flimsy tent, they seldom fail.
I know that I’d go bonkers if I had to live each day
With nothing but a nylon sheet or two
Between me and the rain clouds or the unforgiving ray
Of sunlight pounding downwards from the blue.
I couldn’t cope for long, I know, without a steaming shower,
A bedroom and a toilet and a sink;
A myriad appliances, with sound electric power –
I’d quiver, and I’d babble…and I’d stink.
But every now and then, I say, and really not that often,
It’s great to leave the urban life behind
And head into the hills before my bones completely soften,
Followed very closely by my mind.
So let me say it clearly (before others say it for me) –
You can argue back and forth, there is no proof –
Except for those rare moments when they truly start to bore me,
I’m very fond of four walls and a roof!
© Stephen Whiteside 11.02.2018
I write a lot of poetry about the great outdoors.
I’m not sure this amounts to a confession,
But I mostly live surrounded by a roof, four walls and floors,
And I wouldn’t want to give the wrong impression.
There really is no substitute for keeping out the weather,
For shielding sun and wind and rain and hail,
For stopping you from getting to the far end of your tether.
Unlike a flimsy tent, they seldom fail.
I know that I’d go bonkers if I had to live each day
With nothing but a nylon sheet or two
Between me and the rain clouds or the unforgiving ray
Of sunlight pounding downwards from the blue.
I couldn’t cope for long, I know, without a steaming shower,
A bedroom and a toilet and a sink;
A myriad appliances, with sound electric power –
I’d quiver, and I’d babble…and I’d stink.
But every now and then, I say, and really not that often,
It’s great to leave the urban life behind
And head into the hills before my bones completely soften,
Followed very closely by my mind.
So let me say it clearly (before others say it for me) –
You can argue back and forth, there is no proof –
Except for those rare moments when they truly start to bore me,
I’m very fond of four walls and a roof!
© Stephen Whiteside 11.02.2018