I adore the writing of George Mackay Brown (1921-96), who was a protégé of Edwin Muir. His rooted life in the Orkneys comes through in every line of his poetry, and in his fiction too. This poem is from late in his life, sometime in the 1980s. The rituals for consecrating a new house were ancient practices in the Orkneys. So the poem is a literal description. In addition, the poem itself is a ritual for a house becoming a home, where all of human life will play out over generations. This insight reminds me of a detail I love in Italian everyday speech: both tavolo and tavola mean "table," but the latter is used specifically for a table set for a meal. The gathering at the table transforms it.