The Ghosts

There was no wind, and yet the air
    Seemed suddenly astir;
There were no forms, and yet all space
    Seemed thronged with growing hosts.
They came from Where, and from Nowhere,
    Like phantoms as they were;
They came from many a land and place -
    The ghosts, the ghosts, the ghosts.

And some were white, and some were grey,
    And some were red as blood -
Those ghosts of men who met their death
    Upon the field of war.
Against the skies of fading day,
    Like banks of cloud they stood;
And each wraith asked another wraith,
    'What were we fighting for?'

One said, 'I was my mother's all;
    And she was old and blind.'
Another, 'Back on earth, my wife
    And week-old baby lie.'
Another, 'At the bugle's call,
    I left my bride behind;
Love made so beautiful my life
    I could not bear to die.'

In voices like the winds that moan
    Among pine trees at night,
They whispered long, the newly dead,
    While listening stars came out.
'We wonder if the cause is known,
    And if the war was right,
That killed us in our prime,' they said,
    'And what it was about.'

They came in throngs that filled all space -
    Those whispering phantom hosts;
They came from many a land and place,
    The ghosts, the ghosts, the ghosts.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Ella Wheeler Wilcox was an American author and poet, born on November 5, 1850, and died on October 30, 1919. She was known for her works expressing optimistic views and moral lessons. Her most famous book was 'Poems of Passion'. Her poem 'Solitude' contains the famous lines, 'Laugh, and the world laughs with you; weep, and you weep alone'. Over her career, Wilcox became popularly known as a 'people's poet'.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Preface to The Englishman and Other Poems - The Queen's Last Ride

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Simple Poetry

Belgium

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Simple Poetry

Two Ghosts

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Simple Poetry

Inevitable.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Simple Poetry

English

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Ghosts

    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 ...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Ghosts.

    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...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Two Ghosts

Two dead men boarded a spectral ship
    In the astral Port of Space;
On that ghost-filled barque, they met in the dark,
    And halted, face to face.

'Now whither away' - called one of the ghosts,
    'This ship sets sail for Earth.
On the astral plane you must remain,
    Where the newly dead have birth.'

'But I could not stay and I would not stay,'
    The other ghost replied;
'I must hurry back to the old Earth track
    And stand at my loved one's side.

'She weeps for me in her lonely room,
    In the land from whence I came;
Oh! stow me away in this ship, I pray,
    For I hear her call my name.'

'You must not go, and you shall not go,'
    The first ghost cried in wrath.
'Your work is planned, in the astral land,
 ...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

A Ballade Of The Unborn Dead

They walked the valley of the dead;
    Lit by a weird half light;
No sound they made, no word they said;
    And they were pale with fright.
Then suddenly from unseen places came
Loud laughter, that was like a whip of flame.

They looked, and saw, beyond, above,
    A land where wronged souls wait;
(Those spirits called to earth by love,
    And driven back by hate).
And each one stood in anguish dumb and wild,
As she beheld the phantom of her child.

Yea, saw the soul her wish had hurled
    Out into night and death;
Before it reached the Mother world,
    Or drew its natal breath.
And terrified, each hid her face and fled
Beyond the presence of her unborn dead.

And God's Great Angel, who provides
    Souls for our mortal land,...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

The Ghost

Through the open door of dreamland
Came a ghost of long ago, long ago.
When I wakened, all unheeding
Was the phantom to my pleading;
For he would not turn and go,
But beside me all the day,
In my work and in my play,
Trod this ghost of long ago, long ago.

Not a vague and pallid phantom
Was this ghost that came to me, followed me:
Though he rose from regions haunted,
Though he came unbid, unwanted,
He was very fair to see.
Like the radiant sun in space
Was the halo round the face
Of that ghost that came to me, followed me.

And he wore no shroud or cere-cloth
As he wandered at my side, close beside:
He was clothed in royal splendour
And his eyes were deep and tender,
While he walked in stately pride;
And he seemed like some g...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Spectres

How terrible these nights are when alone
    With our scarred hearts, we sit in solitude,
And some old sorrow, to the world unknown,
    Does suddenly with silent steps intrude.

After the guests departed, and the light
    Burned dimly in my room, there came to me,
As noiselessly as shadows of the night,
    The spectre of a woe that used to be.

Out of the gruesome darkness and the gloom
    I saw it peering; and, in still despair,
I watched it gliding swift across the room,
    Until it came and stood beside my chair.

Why, need I tell thee what its shape or name?
    Thou hast thy secret hidden from the light:
And be it sin or sorrow, woe or shame,
    Thou dost not like to meet it in the night.

And yet it comes.    As certainly as dea...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox