narya_flame

I have something slightly more festive in mind for next week, but for me, ghosts and reflection and remembrance are just as much a part of the season as sleigh rides and snow scenes and sugary treats.

(Also, go me, I managed to post this on an actual Monday for once!)

Spirits of the Dead

Thy soul shall find itself alone 
'Mid dark thoughts of the grey tomb-stone; 
Not one, of all the crowd, to pry
Into thine hour of secrecy.

Be silent in that solitude,
   Which is not loneliness - for them
The spirits of the dead, who stood
   In life before thee, are again
In death around thee, and their will
Shall overshadow thee; be still.

The night, though clear, shall frown,
And the stars shall not look down
From their high thrones in the Heaven
With light like hope to mortals given,
But their red orbs, without beam,
To thy weariness shall seem
As a burning and a fever 
Which would cling to thee for ever.

Now are thoughts thou shalt not banish,
Now are visions ne'er to vanish;
From thy spirit shall they pass
No more, like dew-drop from the grass.

The breeze, the breath of God, is still,
And the mist upon the hill
Shadowy, shadowy, yet unbroken,
Is a symbol and a token.
How it hangs upon the trees,
A mystery of mysteries!

A day late this week because of real life stuff, but I wanted to do it anyway.  Chat welcome in the comments.

The Way through the Woods

They shut the road through the woods
Seventy years ago.
Weather and rain have undone it again,
And now you would never know
There was once a road through the woods
Before they planted the trees.
It is underneath the coppice and heath,
And the thin anemones.
Only the keeper sees
That, where the ring-dove broods, 
And the badgers roll at ease,
There was once a road through the woods.


(I won't bother linking to an online bio of Rudyard Kipling; there are plenty out there.  I recently came across this poem collected here, but just the first stanza.  I remembered studying it at school; I hadn't thought about it for about fifteen years, but I immediately knew something was missing, and went looking for the poem in its entirety.)