IT should be yours, if I could build <br />The quaint old dwelling I desire, <br />With books and pictures bravely filled <br />And chairs beside an open fire, <br />White-panelled rooms with candles lit- <br />I lie awake to think of it! <br /> <br />A dial for the sunny hours, <br />A garden of old-fashioned flowers- <br />Say marigolds and lavender <br />And mignonette and fever-few, <br />And Judas-tree and maidenhair <br />And candytuft and thyme and rue- <br />All these for you to wander in. <br /> <br />A Chinese carp (called Mandarin) <br />Waving a sluggish silver fin <br />Deep in the moat: so tame he comes <br />To lip your fingers offering crumbs. <br />Tall chimneys, like long listening ears, <br />White shutters, ivy green and thick, <br />And walls of ruddy Tudor brick <br />Grown mellow with the passing years. <br /> <br />And windows with small leaded panes, <br />Broad window-seats for when it rains; <br />A big blue bowl of pot pourri <br />And-yes, a Spanish chestnut tree <br />To coin the autumn's minted gold. <br />A summer house for drinking tea- <br />All these (just think!) for you and me. <br /> <br />A staircase of the old black wood <br />Cut in the days of Robin Hood, <br />And banisters worn smooth as glass <br />Down which your hand will lightly pass; <br />A piano with pale yellow keys <br />For wistful twilight melodies, <br />And dusty bottles in a bin- <br />All these for you to revel in! <br /> <br />But when? Ah well, until that time <br />We'll habit in this house of rhyme.<br /><br />Christopher Morley<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/our-house-6/
