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Poetry

Haus Wittgenstein, Vienna

by Herb Tate

Wittgenstein designed a house, then had the builders reconstruct it to make one of the ceilings 3cm higher.

How to become the architect
Of your own myth: gesture towards the space
That is missing, the space that isn’t there,
The three centimetres needed to repair
Proportion in a perfectly thought-out place

Then stand back and say nothing, be silent.
Let others place a table and dine,
Or a bed to sleep in a room of their choosing;
Living will be their way of approving
Your wonderful way of squandering time.

Herb Tate is a poet and RE & Philosophy teacher in the UK.