Farewell to the Barnhouse (sold and never coming back).

The W______ family have sold the old stone Barnhouse with its little stone wall and inner garden next to the meadow where I lived nine years ago. The following poem by Robert Louis Stevenson entitled "Farewell to the Farm" expresses well what I feel on the occasion:

The coach is at the door at last;
The eager children, mounting fast
And kissing hands, in chorus sing:
Good-bye, good-bye, to everything!

To house and garden, field and lawn,
The meadow-gates we swang upon,
To pump and stable, tree and swing,
Good-bye, good-bye, to everything!

And fare you well for evermore,
O ladder at the hayloft door,
O hayloft where the cobwebs cling,
Good-bye, good-bye, to everything!

Crack goes the whip, and off we go;
The trees and houses smaller grow;
Last, round the woody turn we sing:
Good-bye, good-bye, to everything!