I was asked the question
Why did I move here
The state of the house
Could have put anyone to fear.
There were no windows round the back;
no window panes
no glass at all
just the window frames
one big hole in the wall.
No boiler, or fire, at all
Just two piles of bricks
and a shelf, about four feet tall.
When the Council came
to put in the fire
the shelf and the walls fell down,
Good job it wasn't higher!
There was bare wires sticking out the wall,
sticking out of the ceilings too.
We didn't know whether to plug anything in
or really what to do at all.
There was no toilet downstairs
That had all been ripped out.
With kids running up and down stairs
it made me want to shout.
The doors upstairs and down
Were all full of holes
For anyone coming in the house
They'd think we had all moles.
The upstairs was just as bad
All dirty and painted black
Sometime I've felt like giving up
And wanting my old house back.
But once I got to work
Each day and every night
The house slowly became a home
Everything turned out right.
The windows were put back in
The wires put back in place
Ready for the world to see
Ready to show my face.
A lick of paint here
Some wallpaper there
Cleaning up and polishing
Scrubbing everywhere.
And the change from when I moved in
To the home it is now
Sometimes I wonder
If it also changed me somehow.
The challenge wasn't a failure
But somehow a great success
I have a clean and tidy home
Out of one Great Big Mess!
So the moral of this poem
I think it's plain to see
Is don't give up and walk away
But fight and succeed like me.
Don't pull yourself down
When you think you're on the bottom line
Stand Up And Be Counted
Everything will turn out fine.

Stand up and be counted...

by Ann Pass

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Copyright The Bentilean 1999

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