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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE PERFECT HOUSE by DOUGLAS MALLOCH

First Line: THERE IS A HOUSE, A PERFECT HOUSE, THAT SETS UPON / A HILL
Last Line: PERHAPS WE SHALL NOT NEED THE HOUSE WE MEAN TO BUILD SOME DAY.

There is a house, a perfect house, that sets upon a hill,
A house with trees and grass around, where all is sweet and still,
Exactly near enough to town, yet far enough away --
It is the house, the perfect house, we mean to build some day.

There is a house where never noise comes pouring from the street,
There is a house where ev'rything is perfect and complete,
In Winter warm, in Summer cool, a house with comfort filled,
A house, a home, a heaven here -- the house we mean to build.

There is a living-room that's long, a fire-place at the end --
A place to sit and smoke a pipe and visit with a friend.
There are some leather rockers there, and walls of quiet tone --
Oh, it's a refuge and a rest, the house we mean to own.

And ev'ry bedroom has a bath and ev'ry bedroom air,
And there's a linen closet large, so handy to the stair,
An attic playroom where the toys, the children's toys, are spilled --
The children, too, will love the place, the house we mean to build.

The city flat, the crowded house, still they must do awhile;
But Wife and I we sit and dream, we sit and dream and smile.
But I, I get a little bent, and Wife a little gray --
Perhaps we shall not need the house we mean to build some day.



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