in a haunted house
TRANSCRIPT
Irish Jesuit Province
In a Haunted HouseAuthor(s): John James PiattSource: The Irish Monthly, Vol. 20, No. 223 (Jan., 1892), p. 38Published by: Irish Jesuit ProvinceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20498314 .
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38
IN A HAUNTED HOUSE.
IN the olden mansion lying, That knew me long ago,
I see the moon-white river Shiverinfg in the snow.
The moon, so close by the window, Frozen in the trees with her light,
A glitter of motinuless silence, All the ice-lit boughs are bright.
Jarring the drowsy stillness, There are footsteps on the stair,
Lifting their ghostly echoes From the chambers everywhere.
How near they startle the stairway! 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 the ghost of their silence Walking within my brain.
Upon the empty stairway I have heard them oft before;
In this olden house, returning, They haunt me evermore.
Strangers have never heard them I know they all are mine,
Rising, 0 heart, and dying On that haunted stair of thine!
To me forever recalling Myself forever fled,
Startling the stair forever, I hear my footsteps dead.
0 life, make braver thy beating The terror on the stair
Is the long dread procession That follows thee everywhere!
JOHN JAMES PIATT.
This content downloaded from 194.29.185.145 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 06:29:28 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions