Leaving Glenurquhart

A family home
Now emptied
A silent sunlit room
A garden window opened
On a quiet afternoon
I see both faces falter
Your lips they speak no more
Dewy boughs now shelter
Where ashes lie forlorn
Our dogs they raced the garden ways
Our cat sunbathed and slept
The school days came
The years they passed
Your children grew and left
Visitations, obligations
Decades long run
Travelling distance, duty given
As taught from very young
Slow decline, rapid changes
The parting of the ways
Suddenly taking leavings
Neither had more days
But took the path
That all must tread
And left this long held
Dear homestead
So one more duty I will keep
And close the house
For those who sleep