Inside the House

We brought the weather to the wall We named the pipes, we checked the fall We set the glass, we sealed the frame We taught the fire to know its place We counted exits, marked the floor We took the feud out of the door We wrote the hours, tuned the lights And taught the dark to wait outside No howl in the bedroom No ash on the sheet No blood in the ledger No frost at the feet Inside the house The roof holds fast The water answers The night can pass Inside the house The locks are law The child can sleep The wolves withdraw We made a room for ordinary grace A warming lamp, a measured pace A page, a cup, a handrail, heat A world where strangers safely meet We filed the names, aligned the wires Reduced the need for watchman fires We raised a life from mud and chance And called it shelter, not romance No hand on the throat now No debt to the blade No trial by weather No oath in the shadows Inside the house The roof holds fast The water answers The night can pass Inside the house The locks are law The child can sleep The wolves withdraw This is not weakness This is not shame This is the long work Of taming flame Brick after brick laid Line after line drawn Peace has an engine Order is worn One wall still waiting One shape in the frame Not yet a doorway Still, we became Inside the house The roof holds fast The water answers The night can pass Inside the house The lights stay warm The glass stays whole The rooms take form Inside the house The law made room For bread, for sleep For books in bloom Inside the house The wolves withdraw And all we built Is worth the wall Worth the wall Worth the wall Inside the house Worth the wall