Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, GHOSTS, by ELLA WHEELER WILCOX


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

GHOSTS, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: There are ghosts in the room
Last Line: In each shadowy corner there lurketh a ghost.
Alternate Author Name(s): Wilson, Robert, Mrs.
Subject(s): Death; Ghosts; Happiness; Hope; Life; Love; Supernatural; Dead, The; Joy; Delight; Optimism


There are ghosts in the room.
As I sit here alone, from the dark corners there
They come out of the gloom,
And they stand at my side and they lean on my chair.

There's the ghost of a Hope
That lighted my days with a fanciful glow,
In her hand is the rope
That strangled her life out. Hope was slain long ago.

But her ghost comes to-night,
With its skeleton face and expressionless eyes,
And it stands in the light,
And mocks me, and jeers me with sobs and with sighs.

There's the ghost of a Joy,
A frail, fragile thing, and I prized it too much,
And the hands that destroy
Clasped it close, and it died at the withering touch.

There's the ghost of a Love,
Born with joy, reared with hope, died in pain and unrest,
But he towers above
All the others -- this ghost: yet a ghost at the best.

I am weary, and fain
Would forget all these dead: but the gibbering host
Make my struggle in vain,
In each shadowy corner there lurketh a ghost.





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