 | Knitting-work |  |
THE HOUSEHOLD GHOST.
BEING AN ACCOUNT OF A VERY SINGULAR VISION SEEN FROM BENEATH THE
BLANKETS ON A COLD NIGHT.
With a silent foot, unshod,
In the mystery of the night,
Light the flitting phantom trod,
Glimmering in ghostly white.
Cold the north wind blew without,
Scattering terror as it sped,
Rattling at the crazy spout
And the clattering tiles o 'erhead.
On the window-pane at hand
Grew the web the frost-sprites spin,
But 't was very summer-land
Where the ghost kept ward within.
Here and there amid the night
Eye the mystic form could trace,
Floating in its garments white,
With its anxious-looking face;
In the mystery of the night,
Light the flitting phantom trod,
Glimmering in ghostly white.
Cold the north wind blew without,
Scattering terror as it sped,
Rattling at the crazy spout
And the clattering tiles o 'erhead.
On the window-pane at hand
Grew the web the frost-sprites spin,
But 't was very summer-land
Where the ghost kept ward within.
Here and there amid the night
Eye the mystic form could trace,
Floating in its garments white,
With its anxious-looking face;
44
Bending o'er the nestlings' couch
With a kiss so sweetly given,
That the sleepers felt the touch
As a token dreamed of heaven.
Such a mighty power was there! —
Waking, by a single breath,
Smiles of happiness most rare
On the lips of sembled death!
Far amid life's later night,
Sad and dark with sin and pain,
In its drapery of white
Will the phantom walk again.
With its calm eyes true and clear,
And its finger raised above,
Breathing in the troubled ear
Accents of a Mother's love.
With a kiss so sweetly given,
That the sleepers felt the touch
As a token dreamed of heaven.
Such a mighty power was there! —
Waking, by a single breath,
Smiles of happiness most rare
On the lips of sembled death!
Far amid life's later night,
Sad and dark with sin and pain,
In its drapery of white
Will the phantom walk again.
With its calm eyes true and clear,
And its finger raised above,
Breathing in the troubled ear
Accents of a Mother's love.
| Knitting-work | |