Haunted Places

Vaporous forms adrift through cold dark rooms Are remnants of passing that in this life looms, And I’ve felt the touch that this dread embraces While wandering about in haunted places. Disembodied voices resounding in empty halls And those that whisper from ancient walls; O’ I’ve heard these spectres that time displaces Where gloom has gathered in haunted places! Empty footfalls and floorboards creaking, The lamenting wind and women weeping, Children singing in vacant spaces, I’ve heard these things in haunted places. I’ve seen the dungeon’s mist as midnight falls, I’ve seen the ghastly events that time recalls, I’ve seen the airy forms that relive disgraces, O’ these things I know of haunted places! Embittered wailing and inhuman screaming Have awakened me when I was dreaming. O’ from the darkness the dead come creeping Upon the night, for they are not sleeping. Wailing spirits from times amiss, Wander about, O’ I have witnessed this, For these fitful souls without earthly graces Are forever kept in haunted places! I’ve been touched by hands where there were none From unseemly acts and deeds undone, By murder, by mayhem, there are always traces, That lurk about in haunted places.