It gave a certain comfort

            The unpretentious leather sofa, 

            Seating two, small and dark

            Against the wall

            Across from it enough of sky

            To constitute a view,

            Portraits hung just so, 

            Several artefacts suggesting simpler times, 

            The doorway (more complex)

            And scattered everywhere

            The scraps: they festooned the room

            In disarray

            He checked the urge to gather them

            The way a banker bundled notes

            To fit the palm, and then the crisp rap

            Of the assembled edges on the desk before ...

            It was better this way, 

            The words exposed, 

            The window opened wide