She Let them Leave their Jellies

She let them leave their jellies at the door

And go away, reluctant, down the walk.

She heard them talking as they passed before

The blind, but could not quite make out their talk

For noise in the room-the sudden heavy fall

And roll of a charred log, and the roused shower

Of snapping sparks; then sharply from the wall

The unforgivable crowing of the hour .

One instant set ajar, her quiet ear

Was stormed and forced by the full rout of day:

The rasp of a saw, the fussy cluck and bray

Of hens, the wheeze of a pump, she needs must hear;

She inescapably must endure to feel

Across her teeth the grinding of a backing wagon wheel.