Here it is! This poem is *perfect* for my particular compositional style! It will be most definitely in a minor key, no particular key decided yet.. in fact nothing else is decided yet! I'm going to let how the poem stirs my imagination to do all the work for me, so it may turn out Romantic, Impressionist, or even 20th Century. We'll have to see! I'll get on it right away, but don't expect too much progress from me as I have about 5 large-scale compositions also on the go! (They are all about 1/2 hour length of time each so that gives you an idea)

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HOUSE FEAR

Always—I tell you this they learned—
Always at night when they returned
To the lonely house from far away 15
To lamps unlighted and fire gone gray,
They learned to rattle the lock and key
To give whatever might chance to be
Warning and time to be off in flight:
And preferring the out- to the in-door night, 20
They learned to leave the house-door wide
Until they had lit the lamp inside.

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oooh reading it again... I LOVE the allusion in this one!

very good my good man, I was expecting to see you and here you are. we definitely have a handful of talent here now so let's see what we can do this with sucker. as for progressing slowly don't worry about it, this isn't a race and there's no deadline so I urge everyone to take their time. I didn't even start mines yet and everyone else is equally excused because it is christmas today afterall and I'm sure most people are busy with things or family around this time so I expect there might not be much activity for another few days or so but hopefully I will begin work soon if not later today. I like you have to let it stir in my mind a bit first to see how the poem inspires my imagination, I can't really just sit down and expect to start pounding it out like a mechanic.

As for the poem, that is definitely pretty spooky and reminds me of myself when I was small (oh who am I kidding I probably still do it LOL) and going into my house at night if it was empty sometimes I would almost subconsciously make extra noise in opening the door almost as to ward off any ghosts or monsters or whatnot that may be lurking in the din of darkness and leaving my door open until I turn the lights on and get things settled so that I have a clear exit in case a monster appears and I could bolt out the bloody door without having to open it.

I probably would have chosen this too if I had seen it, very inspiring if you're into the morbid and frightening type of imagery.

As for how I would go about composing this, it's a pretty simple and open concept, it's not very particular like some of the other stories like signas where there is a sort of clear storyline. So with this I think it's very open where you can take it in many directions, you can simply compose a haunting and lurid piece inspired by the imagery this poem provokes or you can do a more literal transcription where the music begins very quietly and eerily as the person/people are going towards the house and beginning to unlock it. Then perhaps there is a sudden moment of uncertainty (tonal ambiguity in the music, perhaps a bunch of diminished 7th chords etc) as the door is being unlocked. Then to express the first entry into the house the piece can take on a new gloom with some tonal 'surprises' almost as if to demonstrate a ghost or something flying out of the darkness, or rather imagery that you thought was a ghost, for instance in your mind you can almost see the person progressing and seeing their visage in the mirror out of the corner of their eye and for a split second thinking it's a face of a ghost and being very startled as they spin around only to realize it's their own reflection. This can be expressed by sudden and unexpected lurches and jumps in the music, etc. Hope that helps you to think about it some more.

Very creepy poem, interesting choice!

If the title had caught my eye it would probably have compted with 'Bond and Free' for my attention.

This definitely invites a rather dark composition. Enjoy.

EDIT: Gosh, I'm so confused. It is a Mountain Interval poem but hidden away within another category.