Mending Gutters

With apologies to Mr. Frost and a nod to Faith in Community, where the discussion of Mending Wall gave me the idea after the departure of the gutter guy this morning. The contract says, ominously, "Total: Unknown."

Something there is that doesn't love a gutter,

That sends the backed-up ice behind it

And splits the aluminum in the rain

And makes gaps in the fascia for the squirrels.

The work of racoons is another thing:
We look after them and sigh over damage

Where they have climbed the ivy,

And moved into the attic,

Living like the bandits they appear to be.

The gaps I mean,

No one has seen them made or heard them made,

But at spring mending-time we find them there.

My neighbor laughs;

And says, "I saw

the squirrels move from my crawl space to yours."

We groan over the cost of this-old-house-maintenance.

To each the boulders that have fallen to each.

And some are minor irritations and some not so.

We have to use a spell to live here:

"Stay where you are until our backs are turned!"

We empty our bank accounts.

Oh, just another contribution to the economy,

Contractor and homeowner.

It comes to less than one hopes and more than the other.

He says, "We do houses other guys won't touch."

So said the heating guy.

And the plumber, I tell him.

He only says, "Old houses make good work."

Summer puts the mischief in me, and

I wonder if I could put a notion in his head:

"Why do they make good work? Isn't it

Where there are hurricanes?" But here there are no hurricanes.

Before I replaced a gutter

I'd ask to know

Whether the globe will warm or freeze,

And whether a move south might be in order.

Something there is that doesn't love a gutter,

That wants it down.

I could say "Gremlins" to him,

And gremlins it is. They visit in the night

draining water along bricks,

crumbling plaster and soaking two-by-twelves.

I know men whose passion is concrete,

Who love the feel of a shingle,

The soddering of a pipe,

And now one whose romance is with wood.

He says it again, "Old houses make good work."