On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night.
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THE GHOST OF YEARS PAST
Cid Stephens
© 2009
I was once paid a visit by a ghost of myself,
Who had sat many years on an old dusty shelf;
Why he chose now this hour to rise in my head
While I sat half asleep in my warm cozy bed,
Perhaps is explained by the words that he spoke,
Which he muttered and sputtered as if he would choke;
His voice was deep as the night with no moon
His face was so pale; his eyes were a-swoon;
I could see that no blood would be
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found in his veins,
And lived hatred and lust where there should have been brains;
The fires of hell burned in his darken eyes,
His lips spoke its language, spoke nothing but lies.
“Welcome back,” said the wraith with a smile most grim,
While his wicked black eyes seemed to flicker and dim,
“A long time I’ve waited right here in this room,
The haven of torment and torture and doom,
For you to return and become me once more,
You tried to escape me, you fought and you swore
That never again would you let yourself be
The comfortable, pleasure filled man that is me!
Yet you have returned, now prepare to assume
My office and trapping, now cast off your gloom!
Your lady is traveling some far distant shore,
You must not think of her! Come, miss her no more!
I’ll give you more women then you’ve ever seen,
All lovely and eager, each naked and keen;
They’ll drown all your sorrows and fill you with joy,
A man could not ask for more perfect a toy!
Your sorrows will lessen and so will your pain,
They will bring the sunshine to your world of rain;
You know it is true since you’ve been here before,
You know all the comfort and pleasure in store.
Just sign this old contract, right there on the line,
And this shall be yours again, and you shall be mine.”
I looked at the ghost who had come from my past
Out of the nightmares where shadows are cast
On brave men who long to be noble and true,
I heard his dark words, but I thought about you.
I thought on your eyes so alive with your grace,
Like windows to heaven in your lovely face,
That shine with a beautiful sparkling hue,
Which puts to shame even the deep oceans’ blue.
I thought on the touch of your soft gentle hand,
No other more kind could be found in the land;
And thought on the warmth of your velvety skin,
So smooth that it would have made Venus chagrin.
No creature more worthy, deserving of love
Has ever God gifted or sent from above;
Such an innocent smile, such a spirit so pure!
Yet can this ghost’s promise away from you lure
My heart to a hundred whom I do not know,
And waste all your love for a five minute show?
I looked at the contract which sealed my doom,
I looked at the ghost who invaded my room;
I said, “Get away and get out of my sight,
I’m tired of you haunting me here every night!
I will not throw pearls out amongst the swine,
That contract of Satan’s I never will sign!
I’ve found something better and someone to love,
I’ve traded your serpent away for a dove.
So go back to Hades, the place you belong,
For though I am weak, love is making me strong!
I banish you now to the dark and the deep,
That dungeon of torment where demons shall weep,
Without all comfort and pleasures of whore!
But I? I shall love one whom heaven adores,
A maiden of beauty, of love, and of grace,
A creature so lovely in feature and face
That even the angels cannot be compared,
With her shall my life, to it’s last days, be shared!”
Then sunk that creature, back into the night,
And the warm morning sun filled my bedroom with light;
The torment was over, the ghost was no more,
I thought about you once again, like before;
I thought on love which for you will not end,
For you are my love and my very best friend.
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