Deirdre Armes Smith
House at St. Peter Port
House on the edge of darkness,
haunted by Victor Hugo’s ghosts,
his own and those he found here –
the girl who hung herself
in this cramped passage
and the one he should have left behind,
to dream of sorrow
under the waters of the lake.
House of paradox.
Here the republican could recreate
the splendour of his childhood home,
the unbeliever could play safe,
under a statue of the Virgin
and sleep in a bedroom
as stark as a monk’s cell.
House of exile.
Mirrors in strategic places
warned the hunted man
who would not hold his tongue,
of the approach of enemies –
gave him a sight of his front door
from upstairs rooms.
And unseen cupboards
designed to keep his secrets,
hide behind the wallpaper.
House of drama
where the voice of this strange man,
reverberates from the Delft tiles,
the silver tapestries
and from the dark furniture
carved with his fierce spirit.
A prisoner’s house.
The open window draws us
to where his eyes once gazed
with longing at his native land
across the rooftops of the house
sheltering the woman
who stayed when others left
and where we now can breathe
the sea air before the darkness,
brooding at our backs,
can suffocate us with its ancient smell.
Page(s) 65-66
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