The walled stairway runs up the center of the house,

an ascending hall that joins its two floors.

The wind comes from the west,

rustling the trees in the two tiers of orchard east of the house

and the trees below the elevation on which the house rests.

The stairway funnels breezes from the second floor windows

down the stairway,

making it the coolest part of the house when the windows are open.

When the windows are closed,

heat from the first floor rises up the same channel, closed off from drafts,

warming the rooms upstairs.

Much of the upper layers of soil around the house

was brought by the west winds

and laid down here over thousands of years after the glaciers receded.

The center of this house is empty.

The emptiness brings the house together.

The trees around the house grow in the wind.