Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE DIREFUL TALE OF HORROR, by BERTON BRALEY



Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE DIREFUL TALE OF HORROR, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: It's sure a dreadful story,' the captain said to me
Last Line: "the story of the skipper of the lady barnaby."
Subject(s): Ghosts; Mystery; Supernatural


"It's sure a dreadful story," the Captain said to me,
"The story of the skipper of the Lady Barnaby.

"A most horrific story to pass a feller's lips,
With its supernatural sperits an' its blood that drips an' drips.

"It's ghostly an' it's ghastly an' it's full of ghouls an' greed,
There ain't no worser story you kin hear about er read.

"It'll make your spine to shiver, it'll make yer blood run cold,
It'll make you scared to whisper when you hear this story told.

"An' yer hair will rise up endwise an' remain in such a state,
An' you'll be a seein' visions in the darkness when it's late.

"When you go to bed you'll tremble in a sort of deadly fear,
An' you won't be sleepin' decent fer as long as half a year.

"You'll be wakin' up an' shriekin' at the nightmares that you see
When you've heard about the skipper an' the Lady Barnaby.

"There is some who heard the story that went mad from sudden fright,
There is some that's nervous ruins, there is some whose hair is white.

"An' the special timid people that has heard it told er read,
Some had terrible convulsions an' a few of them is dead.

"It is crammed with murk an' murder, red as blood an' black as hell,
It is slimy, cold an' clammy, an' a fearful thing to tell."

"Yes," I said, "but I can stand it, go ahead and tell the tale
For my nerves are very steady and my health is very hale."

But the Captain rose and left me, saying, as he moved away,
"I won't tell no such a story on this bright an' sunny day.

"First, because it's much too awful; it would make yer flesh to crawl,
Second—well, I never happened for to hear the tale at all,

"But they say it's something dreadful, horrible as it kin be,
The story of the skipper of the Lady Barnaby."





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...



Home: PoetryExplorer.net