 | The ghost's entry and other poems |  |
22
AWAKE IN A HAUNTED HOUSE
In the olden mansion lying,
That knew me long ago,
I see the frozen river,
Without, in still bright snow.
That knew me long ago,
I see the frozen river,
Without, in still bright snow.
The moon, so close by the window,
Hangs in the tree;—with her light,
A glitter of motionless silence,
All the ice-lit boughs are bright.
Hangs in the tree;—with her light,
A glitter of motionless silence,
All the ice-lit boughs are bright.
Jarring the drowsy stillness,
There are footsteps on the stair,
Uplifting their ghostly echoes
From the chambers everywhere.
There are footsteps on the stair,
Uplifting their ghostly echoes
From the chambers everywhere.
23
How near they startle the stairway!—
I feel the opening door!
Now, far and fainter and dying,
They echo in me no more.
I feel the opening door!
Now, far and fainter and dying,
They echo in me no more.
In a moment the door will open,—
How near they grow again! ...
They have left their dreadful silence
Walking within my brain.
How near they grow again! ...
They have left their dreadful silence
Walking within my brain.
Upon the empty stairway
I have heard them often before;
In this olden house, returning,
They haunt me evermore.
I have heard them often before;
In this olden house, returning,
They haunt me evermore.
Strangers have never heard them—
I know they all are mine,
Rising, O heart, and dying
On that haunted stair of thine! ...
I know they all are mine,
Rising, O heart, and dying
On that haunted stair of thine! ...
24
O life, make braver thy beating.
The terror on the stair
Is the long dread procession
That follows thee everywhere!
The terror on the stair
Is the long dread procession
That follows thee everywhere!
| The ghost's entry and other poems | |