standing at its threshold at the end of a long hallway looking inside it appeared an ascetics bed

a sharp rectangle standing on a bare oakslat floor

the floor shone with an inner honeylight when struck by sunlight through the window

handworked with polish buffed with a cottoncloth

rolled dust never to gather in the room

the bed was bound in fresh-cleaned sheets laid over with a clean woven blanket at its head a hard pillow

beside it stood a boxy chest

under the window a steamer trunk

there were no bedstands or lamps 

overhead was a common lighting fixture

blinds hung in the window 

there were no curtains

there were no adornments hanging on the walls or a crucifix a rood bearing a twist of dried palm

if it wasnt for the bed in it the room would have begged for one and for an occupant to fill it with some kind of life

he saw to it his life happened outside the bed room 

it was strictly a separate place to sleep to be unoccupied

when he retired he left his occupations outside it and slept like an untroubled babe

the room was imbued with sleep

he fixed it that way within four short years

they probably could have been less if one other occupation didnt enter

sex

the room had to share

if it hadnt perhaps it could have been imbued with sleep in two years

appearing an ascetic and being one were cries far apart

he was inconvertible

                                 

he hadnt the dire imagination to imagine a zealous ascetic clutching a dangling knout then lashing himself chasing from his body and mind his animalistic lusts unholy distractions or intrusions

and being inconvertible

                   he heard the ghosts who must have been very old who had forgotten a filled bathtub amplified sound  and as he laid in it his ears underwater their hesitant footsteps sounded over the beating of his heart

they sounded loud enough that he opened his eyes again and again to see if they werent standing over him curiously looking trying to decipher his quiet recline nearly submersed

or perhaps they were overt and simply wanted their presence acknowledged 

otherwise they were invisible to him

the best he managed was that he sensed their presence

later it occurred to him that if they were older ghosts they were probably ignorant of the tub in the house

he understood that outdoors there once was a trough fed by a handpump where nearby a firepit was stoked a cauldron hung above it was filled with water and when heated it could be swung on an iron arm over the trough and dumped

the older ghosts may never have bathed in the house

a trough indoors in a separate room would be curious

so maybe he shared the house with ghosts who were like cats

except for their heavy feet

sometimes they breathed heavy 

like excited children hiding playing a game of hide and seek

it also seemed that he and they was partial to beeswax candles

when distilling the occupations from his mind to retire to bed he enjoyed painting the dark livingroom or sitting room walls with their flickering butterlight

a glass of whisky

visualising

sighed

usually then he and the ghosts retired 

their détente deliberated

Monday afternoon,  29  8. 16

0940,  Day-between-Two-Ts,  31  8. 16