Locked For Good

Robert Service's hut, Dawson, Yukon
 

 

 

 

Prophecy

I shall lie hidden in a hut

In the middle of an alder wood,

With the back door blind and bolted shut,

And the front door locked for good.

 

I shall lie folded like a saint,

Lapped in a scented linen sheet,

On a bedspread striped with bright-blue paint,

Narrow and cold and neat.

 

The midnight will be glassy black

Behind the panes, with wind about

To set his mouth against a crack

And blow the candle out.

 

- Elinor Wylie, 1923

 

 

a profusion of forest starwort (chickweed)
 

The Grand Strzelecki Track

South Gippsland, Victoria

Australia