The House with SOMEBODY in It!

I have never loved poetry. As a kid in school, I hated “poetry units.” And even when I was in high school at Mount Saint Mary Academy in North Plainfield, New Jersey, where I had amazing English teachers (all nuns, by the way), I hated it even more. I think it was because I truly didn’t get it. Maybe I wasn’t in touch with my emotions as much as I needed to be. It just didn’t make sense — all those figures of speech and irregular word order, and free verse, etc..

Well all of that has been changing as I have gotten older. Maybe because I have experienced more of life, I’ve come to truly appreciate some poetry. So recently, as I was tutoring a Chinese teenager in English, I decided to expose her to some good American poetry.

And who better than an American poet who was a native of the area where I grew up — New Brunswick/Edison, New Jersey. His name is Joyce Kilmer, and he is probably best known for his magnificent poem, “Trees.”

Trees
BY JOYCE KILMER

I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

Now how could I not love that poem?

Well, in the course of my search for other poems by this same author, I came across a gem of a poem that grabbed me deeply! The name of it is …

The House with Nobody In It
By Joyce Kilmer

Whenever I walk to Suffern along the Erie track
I go by a poor old farmhouse with its shingles broken and black.
I suppose I’ve passed it a hundred times, but I always stop for a minute
And look at the house, the tragic house, the house with nobody in it.

I never have seen a haunted house, but I hear there are such things;
That they hold the talk of spirits, their mirth and sorrowings.
I know this house isn’t haunted, and I wish it were, I do;
For it wouldn’t be so lonely if it had a ghost or two.

This house on the road to Suffern needs a dozen panes of glass,
And somebody ought to weed the walk and take a scythe to the grass.
It needs new paint and shingles, and the vines should be trimmed and tied;
But what it needs the most of all is some people living inside.

If I had a lot of money and all my debts were paid
I’d put a gang of men to work with brush and saw and spade.
I’d buy that place and fix it up the way it used to be
And I’d find some people who wanted a home and give it to them free.

Now, a new house standing empty, with staring window and door,
Looks idle, perhaps, and foolish, like a hat on its block in the store.
But there’s nothing mournful about it; it cannot be sad and lone
For the lack of something within it that it has never known.

But a house that has done what a house should do, a house that has sheltered life,
That has put its loving wooden arms around a man and his wife,
A house that has echoed a baby’s laugh and held up his stumbling feet,
Is the saddest sight, when it’s left alone, that ever your eyes could meet.

So whenever I go to Suffern along the Erie track
I never go by the empty house without stopping and looking back,
Yet it hurts me to look at the crumbling roof and the shutters fallen apart,
For I can’t help thinking the poor old house is a house with a broken heart.

When I first read this poem and for many readings thereafter, I would find myself almost sobbing with grief… over a house…an empty house … a house with no one, no person in it! The personification had overwhelmed me.

And even with the passage of time, I couldn’t get the imagery out of my mind — a poor, lonely, empty home.

But the message has gone even deeper in recent years, as I’ve observed empty, lonely people…people who are like Kilmer’s house — without life, without hearts … like empty “mobile homes,” moving their way through the craziness of this world without life and love and direction and stability and hope.

But as I reflected, I remembered JESUS … Jesus who lives within His people, His dwelling places.

He said,
“Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.” Revelation 3:20 NLT

I came so that [you] would have life, and have it abundantly. John 10:10 NASB

And imagery in Scripture abounds with Christ coming to fill our empty “house/ sanctuary” of a human life by His Spirit:

… the riches and glory of Christ are for you …, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory.
Colossians 1:27 NLT

Don’t you realize that your body is the temple [dwelling place] of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NLT

For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.
We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars [our bodies] containing this great treasure [Jesus]. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.
2 Corinthians 4:6-7 NLT

So now what deeply moves me is the truth that little ole, formerly empty and lonely me is no longer empty and barren and without life and hope. Now in Christ, I am the dwelling place of the living Christ by the Holy Spirit. I am never alone and empty — I’m filled with the fulness of God.

For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body.
So you also are complete [full] through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.
Colossians 2:9-10 NLT

And so I am filled with gratitude and praise …

When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father,
the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.
I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. 
Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.
And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. 
May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. 
Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.
Ephesians 3:14-21 NLT