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1853.]
Phantoms.
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and assorting them for the flames? For by the cart-load they are annually burned. Sometimes from out the folded paper the pale clerk takes a ring:—the finger it was meant for, perhaps, moulders in the grave; a bank-note sent in swiftest charity:—he whom it would relieve, nor eats nor hungers any more; pardon for those who died despairing; hope for those who died unhoping; good tidings for those who died stifled by unrelieved calamities. On errands of life, these letters speed to death,
Ah Bartleby! Ah humanity!
PHANTOMS.
ALL houses wherein men have lived and died,
Are haunted houses. Through the open doors
The harmless phantoms on their errands glide,
With feet that make no sound upon the floors.
Are haunted houses. Through the open doors
The harmless phantoms on their errands glide,
With feet that make no sound upon the floors.
We meet them at the doorway, on the stair,
Along the passages they come and go,
Impalpable impressions on the air,
A sense of something moving to and fro.
Along the passages they come and go,
Impalpable impressions on the air,
A sense of something moving to and fro.
There are more guests at table, than the hosts
Invited;—the illuminated hall
Is thronged with quiet, inoffensive ghosts,
As silent as the pictures on the wall.
Invited;—the illuminated hall
Is thronged with quiet, inoffensive ghosts,
As silent as the pictures on the wall.
The stranger at my fireside cannot see
The forms I see, nor hear the sounds I hear;
He but perceives what is; while unto me
All that has been is visible and clear.
The forms I see, nor hear the sounds I hear;
He but perceives what is; while unto me
All that has been is visible and clear.
We have no title-deeds to house or lands;
Owners and occupants of earlier dates
From graves forgotten stretch their dusty hands
And hold in mortmain still their old estates.
Owners and occupants of earlier dates
From graves forgotten stretch their dusty hands
And hold in mortmain still their old estates.
The spirit-world around this world of sense
Floats like an atmosphere, and every where
Wafts through these earthly mists and vapors dense
A vital breath of more etherial air.
Floats like an atmosphere, and every where
Wafts through these earthly mists and vapors dense
A vital breath of more etherial air.
Our little lives are kept in equipoise
By opposite attractions and desires;
The struggle of the instinct that enjoys.
And the more noble instinct that aspires.
By opposite attractions and desires;
The struggle of the instinct that enjoys.
And the more noble instinct that aspires.
The perturbations, the perpetual jar
Of earthly wants and aspirations high.
Come from the influence of that unseen star,
That undiscovered planet in our sky.
Of earthly wants and aspirations high.
Come from the influence of that unseen star,
That undiscovered planet in our sky.
And as the moon, from some dark gate of cloud.
Throws o'er the sea a floating bridge of light.
Across whose trembling planks our fancies crowd,
Into the realm of mystery and night;
Throws o'er the sea a floating bridge of light.
Across whose trembling planks our fancies crowd,
Into the realm of mystery and night;
So from the world of spirits there descends
A bridge of light connecting it with this,
O'er whose unsteady floor, that sways and bends,
Wander our thoughts above the dark abyss.
A bridge of light connecting it with this,
O'er whose unsteady floor, that sways and bends,
Wander our thoughts above the dark abyss.
