The Old Man (A Haunting), a poem written by David Haven at Spillwords.com
Gabriel

The Old Man

The Old Man

A Haunting

written by: David Haven

@DavidHaven7

 

I saw him walking through the fog
one cold December day
among the stubble fields of corn
he seemed so far away.
I called out to the old man
but he just kept walking on.
When he disappeared into the mist
I stood there all alone.

The moon was shining down so full
late one winter’s night.
It bathed the world around it
in a greenish yellow light.
There on a wooden bench out back
beneath an old oak tree
the old man sat there all alone
his hands upon his knees.

Awake I started from my sleep
the sound still in my ears.
A presence in my home somewhere
my mind alive with fear!
Then from the other room I heard
the creaking of my chair.
In the silence of the early morn
the man was rocking there.

Thunder rumbled through the night.
The rain came pouring down.
The jagged lightening flashed
il-lum-i-nat-ing all around.
Dancing shadows in my room
flickered here and there
and silent at my bedside
the old man standing there!

Old man why do you come to me
upon this stormy gale?
And why your stare so ghastly
as the night winds moan and wail?
I heard no sound of footfall
when you came into my room
but hasn’t it been years ago
they laid you in your tomb?

For a shadow dark and bleak and grim
came to strike you down.
The grave now holds your body
in the cold and lonely ground.
But I see your spirit roam about
in wispy shadows glide.
Sometimes I hear your voice
whis-per-ing from the other side.

Is your restlessness some task undone
you have yet to fulfill?
An unrequited love or fear
that makes you linger still?
The light in yonder distance
beacons you with pealing bell
to realms of heavenly bliss
or to the fiery gates of hell.

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