The roof may hold against the elements

The slopes might send flood waters

Casting away from the door

But we do not know

There is no proof the house will stand

No storms or onslaughts

To test the four simple walls

And the peak of the roof

What resistance may it all hold?

We cannot know

At the first build

Or in the first years

But in any climate the storms will come

And what was once untested

Will be forced into trials

And raked over the coals

Of floods and fires and shaking earth

When the winds shift to gales

And the tests seem all at once endless

While the house still stands – Caroline A. Slee