Oft do I hear those windows ope <br />And shut with dread surprise, <br />And spirits murmur as they grope, <br />But break not on the eyes. <br /> <br />Still fancy spies the winding sheet, <br />The phantom and the shroud, <br />And bids the pulse of horror beat <br />Throughout my ears aloud. <br /> <br />Some unknown finger thumps the door, <br />From one of faltering voice, <br />Till some one seems to walk the floor <br />With an alarming noise. <br /> <br />The drum of horror holds her sound, <br />Which will not let me sleep, <br />When ghastly breezes float around, <br />And hidden goblins creep. <br /> <br />Methinks I hear some constant groan, <br />The din of all the dead, <br />While trembling thus I lie alone, <br />Upon this restless bed. <br /> <br />At length the blaze of morning broke <br />On my impatient view, <br />And truth or fancy told the joke, <br />And bade the night adieu. <br /> <br />'Twas but the noise of prowling rats, <br />Which ran with all their speed, <br />Pursued in haste by hungry cats, <br />Which on the vermin feed. <br /> <br />Those creatures crumbling off the cheese <br />Which on the table lay; <br />Some cats, too quick the rogues to seize, <br />With rumbling lost their prey. <br /> <br />Thus man is often his own elf, <br />Who makes the night his ghost, <br />And shrinks with horror from himself, <br />Which is to fear the most. <br /> <br />The cat growl'd as she held her prey, <br />Which shriek'd with all its might, <br />And drove she balm of sleep away <br />Throughout the live-long night.<br /><br />George Moses Horton<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-fearful-traveller-in-the-haunted-castle/
