It Went Quiet

It went quiet.
The house settled edgily
On council concrete.
Embarrassed plumbing
Gurgled once, then stopped.
I sniffed,
The sound not cushioned
By flesh or conversation,
Burst on barbed seconds.

I did not know what to be.
No cause or reason
For moods or changes.
Happy was as redundant
As irritation.

When it went quiet
I existed in the kitchen.
Couldn't move
Or couldn't be bothered.
As if too brittle
I became overstill.

Discomforted in nothinghood
I listened to it go quiet.

The children were gone.