Sometime in 1996, James sent me this poem by Seamus Heaney with the handwritten message, "Here's the Adobe House mantra."
Lightenings
Roof it again. Batten down. Dig in.
Drink out of tin. Know the scullery cold,
A latch, a door-bar, forged tongs and a grate.
Touch the cross-beam, drive iron in a wall,
Hang a line to verify the plumb
From lintel, coping-stone and chimney-breast.
Relocate the bedrock in the threshold.
Take squarings from the recessed gable pane.
Make your study the unregarded floor.
Sink every impulse like a bolt. Secure
the bastion of sensation. Do not waver
Into language. Do not waver in it.
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