She's heard it before

—- Photo by Mathias Krumbholz

“An old woman by a window watching the storm —

Dark River and dark sky and furious wind

Full of green flying leaves, gray flying rain….

Daughters and grandchildren in a darkened room….

Call to her to come, to come away….

Above the wind and the crash of a porch chair

And now the thunder, she does not seem to hear

Or if she hears, she does not answer them….’’

— From “The Reading of the Psalm,’’ by Robert Francis (1901-87). He lived in Cushman Village, part of Amherst, Mass. Robert Frost much admired him.

Keet House, one of many old houses in the Cushman Village Historic District