Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, A GHOST AT NOON, by EBENEZER ELLIOTT


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A GHOST AT NOON, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The day was dark, save when the beam
Last Line: Hath planted in the grave?
Alternate Author Name(s): Corn-law Rhymer; Elliot, Ebenezer
Subject(s): Ghosts; Supernatural


THE day was dark, save when the beam
Of noon through darkness broke;
In gloom I sate, as in a dream,
Beneath my orchard oak;
Lo! splendour, like a spirit, came,
A shadow like a tree!
While there I sat, and named her name,
Who once sat there with me.

I started from the seat in fear;
I look'd around in awe;
But saw no beauteous spirit near,
Though all that was I saw;
The seat, the tree, where oft, in tears,
She mourn'd her hopes o'erthrown
Her joys cut off in early years,
Like gather'd flowers half-blown.

Again the bud and breeze were met,
But Mary did not come;
And e'en the rose, which she had set,
Was fated ne'er to bloom!
The thrush proclaim'd, in accents sweet,
That winter's rain was o'er;
The bluebells throng'd around my feet,
But Mary came no more.

I think, I feel -- but when will she
Awake to thought again?
A voice of comfort answers me,
That God does nought in vain:
He wastes nor flower, nor bud, nor leaf,
Nor wind, nor cloud, nor wave;
And will he waste the hope which grief
Hath planted in the grave?





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