The house is quiet after she has gone.

What summer tempests beat around my ears

are silent. Red leaves fall. In autumn sun

the house is quiet after she has gone.

Through peaceful rooms small desolations run

and loneliness comes creeping down the stairs.

The house is quiet after she has gone

What summer tempests beat around my ears!

Elvira Banfill lived in Bernard. Her husband, Elwood Banfill, generously permitted the BDN to reprint this poem from her collection “Starlight” published by Sea Urchin Press in 1996.