The mortar’s not supposed to turn to dust.
It shouldn’t bulge and powder-drop this way.
I’ll call and pay a tradesman if I must,
but that’s an errand for a later day.
I’m sure there’s water – we had so much rain,
there has to be at least a pond outside
my eastern wall. At worst it may not drain
for months, and it’s too shaded to be dried.

My cottage is so old that it abuts
two neighbors’ yards. A foot from my brick wall
a fence of brick is built. Between them juts
some gutterwork, but it can’t channel all
that fell throughout December’s storminess.
Concerned, I see some mortar effloresce.