The mind deserts the body it has used

Don’t live like waiting for death

silence in heaven

The lantern light from deeper in the barn

Shone on a man and woman in the door

And threw the shadows on the house

The lamp tilted near his hand

We are stopping for the night down at the hotel

The swinging lantern lengthened to the ground

It touched it, it struck it, clattered and went out

He pointed backward

Over his shoulders with his stick, saying, stay away

I didn’t make you know

How glad I was to have you come here

I saw him from the bottom of the staitrs before he saw me

Walking into the hostel yard holding his fathers hand by his side