Recently in Houses Category

The Builder by Zora Cross

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I build my palaces of turkis bright 
Agate and amber ivory and pearl,
I set them shining now where dim mists curl 
And now upon a star a-bloom at night.
The turrets all are tinted diamond white,
Frail flags of thistledown from each unfurl,
And, while faint pipes a goblin-measure skirl,
In every hall I set a flower of light.
For I have seen dull fabrics of flats rise 
And trimly dot the darling earth about
With prim realities through which Time screams 
Unmoved. These may please tame prosaic eyes, 
Without the benediction of a doubt,
But I shall keep my palaces of dreams.

First published in The Sydney Morning Herald, 12 September 1935

The House with the Tiled Roof by Myra Morris

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The house with tiles along its roof,
   Has dragons crouching at the doors,
That upward gaze in mild reproof,
   And parquetry verandah-floors.

Bright purple flames of flowers blaze
   Across the whiteness of its walls,
And dappled little garden-ways
   Are glimpsed from glassy, curtained halls.

Yet here I languish touched with pain,
   A wandering spirit, lost, aloof,
Because I cannot hear the rain
   Beating at night upon the roof.

Outside, the dark flows vague and wide,
   The world in tingling storm is drowned;
Yet lapped in peace I lie inside
   And hear no single breath of sound.

There was a tiny house I knew, 
   With roof of ugly, rusted tin,
And blackened chimneys all askew,
   Where, dancing out, and dancing in,

The rain with dusty odors fraught,
   Would croon a song of freshened things;
And I remember how it brought
   Contentment on its silver wings.

On thinking back I sleep again
   Beside the stirless billabong,
Hearing on tented roof the rain
   Drum with a muffled litre song.

Hearing above the grieving sky,
   Above the moaning of the sea,
The black swans flute as they owing by
   Unto some bourne of mystery!

So wrapped in silence, rainsong-proof,
   Rearing with pride each splendid room,
The house with tiles along he roof
   Is nothing but a prison-tomb.

First published in The Bulletin, 13 February 1929

Author reference sites: AustlitAustralian Dictionary of Biography

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