Blank walls, dead grates, obliterated pages –
Vacancy filled up the house.
Nothing remains of the outward shows,
The inner rages.
Picture collection, trophies, library –
All that entranced, endorsed, enslaved –
With gimcrack ornaments have achieved
Nonentity.
How can I even know what it held most precious,
Its meaning lost, its love consumed?
Silence now where the cool brain hummed:
Where fire was, ashes.
How neatly those rough-tongued removal men
Have done the job. This useless key
They left us when they had earned their pay –
A skull, picked clean.