Came from the chimney stacks, no clock ticked, no one spoke.

Only the water dripped and dribble-dripped,

And gurgled through the rain-pipe to the butt;

Drops, trickling down the windows paused or slipped;

A wet twig scraked as though the glass were cut.

The blinds were all drawn down, the windows shut.

No one was there. Across the road a shawl

Showed at a door a space; a woman gave a call.

"They're gone away," she cried. "They're gone away.

Been gone a matter of a week." Where to?