Thomas Hardy, 'The Strange House'

[duathir.livejournal.com]

The Strange House

“I hear the piano playing -
  Just as a ghost might play.”
“ - O, but what are you saying?
  There’s no piano to-day;
Their old one was sold and broken;
  Years past it went amiss.”
“ - I heard it, or shouldn’t have spoken:
    A strange house, this!

“I catch some undertone here,
  From some one out of sight.”
“ - Impossible; we are alone here,
  And shall be through the night.”
“ - The parlour-door - what stirred it?”
  “ - No one: no soul’s in range.”
“ - But, anyhow, I heard it,
    And it seems strange!

“Seek my own room I cannot -
  A figure is on the stair!”
“ - What figure? Nay, I scan not
  Any one lingering there.
A bough outside is waving,
  And that’s its shade by the moon.”
“ - Well, all is strange! I am craving
    Strength to leave soon.”

( Ah, maybe you’ve some vision... )

By Thomas Hardy