Number 10 Willow Walk

I told you before
that 10 Willow Walk 
isn't there anymore
and few people know
that it ever existed.
The building was old
and should have been listed
because of its history.

In fact, to be exact,
its origin can be traced 
to a charitable act.
The house was part
of a string of almshouses
built by a benefactor
in the 18th century
for people in penury,

It wasn't generosity
that inspired that charity
but the guilty conscience
of the contributor
who'd amassed a fortune
in the slave trade.
Over time those properties
became private dwellings.

The memory of how
they had been financed
began to fade.
My ancestors who bought
the house in good faith
never gave a second thought
to the myth that the place
was haunted by wraiths

© Luigi Pagano 2021