The size of a man's shoes on a pile of broken dishes declares he was a big man.

The length of the bed in the farmhouse reveals the man was also tall.

A Bible in an upstairs room identifies the former occupant as a God-fearing man.

The Bible, its spine broken, lies dusty on the floor where it was left behind.

Fields cluttered with boulders reveal the man was not suited to farming.

A leaky, dilapidated barn confirms the farm fell into neglect.

Lilac-patterned bedroom wallpaper reveals a woman once shared the farmhouse.

A tire converted into a sandbox shows a child lived at the farm.

Jars of plum preserves and canned tomatoes in the cellar reveal money was scarce.

Rags stuffed in the window frames show the house was poorly protected from winter cold.

A narrow country road declares the farmhouse was a place of deep isolation.

The empty farmhouse itself speaks, announcing that something went wrong.

A weed-choked yard and stone-filled fields show the farm has been completely reclaimed by neglect.

Still-sealed food jars left in the cellar reveal the woman departed in frightened haste.

The child's toys lie strewn across the yard like branches after a storm, and the poem offers no answer.

A narrator surveys an abandoned farmhouse and pieces together a family's story from the objects left behind. A large man's shoes, his tall bed, and a Bible reveal a God-fearing but struggling farmer, while boulder-strewn fields and a leaky barn confirm the farm fell into neglect. A woman's presence emerges through bedroom wallpaper and kitchen shelves, and a sandbox made from a tractor tire shows a child lived there too. Jars of preserves expose poverty, rags stuffed in windows speak to brutal winters, and a narrow country road confirms the family's deep isolation. The empty house declares something went wrong, sealed jars reveal a panicked departure, and scattered toys close the poem without explanation.

The headline discoveries told by a farmhouse's abandoned objects.

Broken dishes beneath the abandoned shoes hint at disorder or a moment of violence in the household.

The man's shoes, undamaged and simply left behind, suggest the departure was abrupt.

The combination of a tall bed and large shoes paints a picture of a physically imposing man.

The Bible's broken spine raises the possibility that the man's faith was tested or shattered.

The dusty Bible lying on a sunlit floor shows it was not taken even by the man it identified as God-fearing.

Rocky, untended fields show that years passed without anyone clearing the land for proper cultivation.

The leaky barn and boulder-strewn fields together deliver a shared verdict against the farmer.

The lilac wallpaper speaks to the woman's attempt to bring beauty and warmth to a failing farm.

The kitchen shelves, carefully lined with oilcloth, stand as the clearest evidence of the woman's domestic care.

The preserved plum jars represent the woman's foresight and labor in preparing the household for scarce times.

Rags wedged into window gaps confirm the family lacked proper materials to weatherproof the farmhouse.

Stones in the fields echo and reinforce the earlier verdict that the man failed as a farmer.

The narrator pauses to ask 'And the child?' before turning at last to the scattered toys in the yard.

A rubber cow, a rusty toy tractor with a broken plow, and a small doll in overalls are found scattered across the yard.

The refrain 'Something went wrong, they say' returns to close the poem as the only thing the objects can collectively agree on.

Each object in the abandoned farmhouse testifies to a different aspect of the family's life and the circumstances of their departure. Broken dishes beneath the shoes hint at disorder, while the Bible's damaged spine and the untended fields together build a portrait of a man overwhelmed by his circumstances. The woman's careful kitchen shelves and stored preserves stand as evidence of resourcefulness and quiet domestic labor amid poverty. Rags wedged into window gaps and stones in the fields add further testimony to the harshness of life at the farm. The poem closes with the narrator asking about the child before uncovering scattered farm toys and returning to its only certain conclusion.

The specific objects and what each one quietly reveals.

The narrator begins reading an abandoned farmhouse's discarded objects as evidence of lives once lived there.

The man's imposing physical size, clear from his belongings, proves to have been no guarantee of success on the farm.

The man's apparent faith, reflected in his Bible, is complicated by the book's broken spine and dusty abandonment.

The transition from the man's Bible to untended fields and a leaky barn reveals a growing portrait of failure.

The poem's focus shifts as bedroom wallpaper introduces the revelation that a woman was part of the story.

The woman's presence in the poem reframes the farmhouse from one man's failure to a shared family tragedy.

The tractor-tire sandbox marks the moment when the poem reveals the farmhouse was also a child's home.

The preserved food stores confirm that survival, not prosperity, was the defining reality of daily life at the farm.

The narrow road's declaration of loneliness reveals the family had no access to the community that might have helped them.

The empty house speaks for the first time, admitting something went wrong without being able to say what.

The poem's mood darkens as weeds, stones, and sealed jars accumulate into evidence of a household in crisis.

The sealed jars reveal a contradiction — a resourceful woman who prepared for the future but was forced to abandon it entirely.

The question 'And the child?' forces readers to confront the fear that the child may have come to harm.

The child's toys, described like debris after a storm, introduce the possibility of a violent or catastrophic ending.

The farm's mystery is deliberately left open, inviting readers to imagine what catastrophe drove the family away.

A narrator approaches an abandoned farmhouse and discovers that each new object reframes everything observed before it. The man's physical strength is revealed as no protection against failure, and his faith is complicated by the broken Bible he left on a dusty floor. The poem shifts when a woman is discovered, transforming a lone man's failure into a family's shared tragedy, and deepens again when a child's presence is confirmed. Poverty, isolation, and the evidence of a panicked departure accumulate into a portrait of lives undone by forces the farmhouse cannot name. The poem closes on an unanswered question about the child and a mystery that resists every attempt at resolution.