once there was a house
of solid wooden blocks
secure in its arrangement
at the bottom of a hill
to the north there was the sky
to the south there was a cliff
the pictures on the wall
shifted the scale
once there was a war
that split the silhouette
he should have seen it coming
the cracks were in the floor
now the wood is wearing
and now the paint is shedding
where was the inspector
to see what lived beneath
illusions have four corners
common tongues are foreign
poor designs leak
the ink onto their hands
each one to brace the other
one sister and one brother
one father and one mother
with splinters in their skin