THOSE forms we fancy shadows, those strange lights That flash on dank morasses, the quick wind That smites us by the roadside -- are the Night's Innumerable children. Unconfined By shroud or coffin, disembodied souls, Uneasy spirits, steal into the air From ancient graveyards when the curfew tolls At the day's death. Pestilence and despair Fly with the sightless bats at set of sun; And wheresoever murders have been done, In crowded palaces or lonely woods, Where'er a soul has sold itself and lost Its high inheritance, there, hovering, broods Some sad, invisible, accursed ghost! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...LOVELY CHANCE by SARA TEASDALE REMEMBERING NAT TURNER by STERLING ALLEN BROWN LA BELLE DAME SANS MERCI by JOHN KEATS A DIALOGUE BETWEEN THE SOUL AND BODY by ANDREW MARVELL THE HOUSE OF LIFE: 90. 'RETRO ME, SATHANA!' by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI |