Contemplative in the Mud

A House that Burns

1–2 minutes

Benjamin Embley

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1 comment on A House that Burns

They built a house.
Each board of wood
Was placed with care,
Went where it should.

Then passed one day
A fiery hand.
It touched the house,
Whence reprimand:

“Don’t touch me so!
I’ve come alight.
I’ll die like this,
Won’t last one night.”

Indeed that night
House burned and burned.
That hand seemed gone,
But House had turned

Into a fire,
Bright but in pain.
House found the fire
Could not be tamed.

And yet he lived;
Upright he stayed.
Although aflame
And much afraid,

His boards found that
They weren’t consumed.
In fact their strength
More than resumed.

And all around
Came out to see
A house that burns
And yet does be.

Benjamin Embley's avatar

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Benjamin Embley

With backgrounds in engineering (BSc PhD) and philosophy (MA), Ben has lived and worked in England, France, and Thailand and is now back home as a settler in the unceded traditional territory of the Wabanaki peoples in Canada. He is a Laudato Si’ Animator and currently studying an MTS Peace & Justice in Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples.

One response to “A House that Burns”

  1. newhofjah Avatar
    newhofjah

    Nice, everyday look forward to your post. On humanityfaithhopecharity.com I posted an extracted piece of a story, as well as some photos I took several years in the past while visiting Assumption Abbey, a Trappist monster in Missouri. One reminds me of your header photo. I want to apologize if you were exposed to the beginning of the Legion story. My lady friend Ann Marie cried when she realized I posted it, demanding I remove it from exposure. It is dark for a reason, yet she rejects the notion, insisting nobody should read it. It is freeing to detach from a story I invested so much energy upon.

    Reply

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