“Today, unlocking the room and stepping into its dusty embrace, it struck her – the bareness, the

cobwebs in the corners, the dark squares on the walls where the maps had once hung, the

intricately designed tiles disappeared in filth, the urn-less, roseless emptiness, the laughter that

once was. Sighs everywhere, and echoes, the papery trail of ants through the ancient wood, the still,

suspended sheets of dust, and through it all, those memories, still alive, still alive.”