13 House Though days may pass and you’ll see no one there The place is lived in always. There was the sight You could have seen in clear, still evening light, Of a girl trimming a bearded young man’s hair Out on the littered deck, and you might hear The little dog’s wow-wow! when running late And alone below; for months a drying skate Swung under the deck, wetsuits and suchlike gear Hang from the railings. Looks like a fine life. Sometimes one of them waves as they come and go Casually in view of us passersby below, While they hang half in the air on the steep clay; That the house is going, waves chewing away, Is habit-knowledge with them, as between man and wife. A big storm struck shortly after this was written, some of the cliff gave way, and one of the family was interviewed in the paper: “I know what it’s like to live with the sound of concrete popping, but when you love to live here .…” 27