Empty Houses

An empty house feels like a clear space where a body should be.
An empty house screams, quietly: I am not here.
I happen to be in an empty house that screams and screams in stone silence.
Safe as houses, they say. But not an empty house.
Empty houses are not there.
Empty houses are not safe.
Empty houses are not.
Actually, I happen to be an empty house
and as I stand within myself listening to my silence I think
I am
not
here.