Claine Keily # 2 A House at Nightfall

Shut up
in a house at nightfall
her thin legs hard
from all the problems in her life

The polished floors
the kind dog outside
the parlour
the spread of landscape
and cheap pieces of paper
stuck with flies
all the ideas she has of witchcraft
leave her
as she views
her vows written on them

She knows now she will
never trot again
along the river
with the women old
and happy
who at night take on
the shape of hyenas


(The last two lines are from Isak Dinesen's 'Out of Africa' )