02.06.26

No.101

You were built for a purpose, with brick and slate, to be a strong sturdy shelter for a gatekeeper, a watcher. Someone who would manage and cast their eye over the surrounding landscape. 

At first just simply to make sure the digging in the surrounding fields was done by those who had rights, to weigh what was found and allocate written documents accordingly. 

You witnessed the pride or displeasure from these working folk, depending on their labours at the end of the working day, which was long and tough.

As the years passed and the demand collapsed, the digging stopped, the land use changed. You no longer watched over extraction from the soil, but now over animals grazing. 

But still watching. Still sheltering. Make sure the livestock grazing on this now common land was by owners who had permission. But this time, more quietly watching. 

Before there was chatter, laughter and anger from workers gone by, over coffee or tea, if the pot was boiling.

That noise now replaced by quiet, more natural sounds, the chirping of birds, bees buzzing around the more natural surroundings, the mooing of cattle or bleating of sheep, happily grazing in this safe landscape.

Slowly over generations, that changed, a few gatekeepers had passed, but you stood proud, sheltering and comforting those that stayed. Providing a place for visiting laughter and stories of old. 

Then one day, no more, the time of the gatekeeper had passed, there was nothing to watch over anymore. 

Quietly the fear of uselessness crept in, no need for an old soul, no need for bricks and slate or watching any longer. 

Time passed, the end felt closer than ever, slowly drifting as the world around moved on, outside horse drawn carts were replaced with cars, trains now passed nearby. Inside the spiders slowly making their home, the dust began to settle, the fires cold long ago. The wilderness slowly crept in.

Suddenly without warning, someone needed these bricks and slate, not just one soul, but a growing family. The spiders were ushered out, fires re-lit, you were added to, extended, painted and decorated in the manner most suitable for this young family. A garden was made from the wilderness around, with special care to allow the birds and bees to remain happy.

The gatekeeper and watcher was still needed, but in a different way.

Watching, with new but similar memories made, with laughter, tears, fun and happiness felt throughout. Voices shared, some sadness too, lives lived and old souls passed on. The next generation moved in, similar but different. Still needing watching over. 

But then, sadly you watched, as the last breath of the last soul parted, then sadness fell.

The lawn unkept, the flowerbeds gone wild, the trees un-pruned, the fence unmaintained, the windows damaged by weather and vandals. The roof leaking, the ivy and weeds making their way slowly in through the ever growing cracks. The front door, now hidden, the path now lost.

The quiet surrounds and engulfs you, nothing to watch, no gatekeeper required. 

No family. No soul. 

The dog barks, impatient with me for standing still so long, we were only meant to walk by, not stop, and stare, and wonder.