The ListenersBY WALTER DE LA MARE‘Is there anybody there?’ said the Traveller,
Knocking on the moonlit door;And his horse in the silence champed the
grasses Of the forest’s ferny floor:And a bird flew up out of the turret,
Above the Traveller’s head:And he smote upon the door again a second time;
‘Is there anybody there?’ he said.But no one descended to the Traveller;
No head from the leaf-fringed sillLeaned over and looked into his grey eyes,
Where he stood perplexed and still.But only a host of phantom listeners
That dwelt in the lone house thenStood listening in the quiet of the moonlight
To that voice from the world of men:Stood thronging the faint moonbeams on
the dark stair, That goes down to the empty hall,Hearkening in an air
stirred and shaken By the lonely Traveller’s call.And he felt in his heart
their strangeness, Their stillness answering his cry,While his horse
moved, cropping the dark turf, ’Neath the starred and leafy sky;For he
suddenly smote on the door, even Louder, and lifted his head:—‘Tell them I
came, and no one answered, That I kept my word,’ he said.Never the least
stir made the listeners, Though every word he spakeFell echoing through
the shadowiness of the still house From the one man left awake:Ay, they
heard his foot upon the stirrup, And the sound of iron on stone,And how
the silence surged softly backward, When the plunging hoofs were gone.
Fred Moir.Lynn MA.Diesel preferred.
_______________________________________
http://www.okiebenz.com
To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/
To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to:
http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
All posts are the result of individual contributors and as such, those
individuals are responsible for the content of the post. The list owner has no
control over the content of the messages of each contributor.
