Dust

100 words - from the mucking out the barn epic.

Dust has become something we have become accustomed to in this little corner of not quite the south of France. The summer months are generally hot and so dry that not only does the earth that we walk on turn to dust but everything that grows within it, everything standing and built upon it. Dust creeps in open doors and windows, comes in on our clothes, our skin and hair, it is part of summer life.

The dust in our barn though was hundreds of years of filthy and ancient dust, not for the faint hearted unacceptable dust…

Dust…

Old bales of grey hay

(mould dust)

scattered logs, branches, leaves

(sawn dust) 

broken machines, a freezer  

oak beams by eight

(bought in-situ dust)

tiny shoes, children’s clothes

filled suitcases, boxes

school books and accounts

(memories dust)  

old beds, old doors

boards from old floors

empty jars, pots of paint

excuse me a minute I think I might faint, 

breathe in — breathe out

the half skeleton you see has a snout

ignore the snake skin curled in a corner

the walnut shells left by secret hoarders

don’t look, just do

it’s all just dust

of years passed before you.

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You can read more about the big barn clean up here;

100 words are written for Erica Drayton’s Free writing Friday, if you think you’d like to join in just click below and follow her instructions.

Free Writing Fridays