Some say the spirits of the dead,
Are hovering o'er our way;
At night they watch around our bed,
And guard our steps by day.
Their shadowy forms are floating round,
In parlor and in hall;
They come and go without a sound,--
As night dews gently fall.
One writer says, "Their airy forms
Are round us everywhere;
They are flitting in and out the door,
And up and down the stairs."
Others the theory deride;
But oft it seems to me,
Beings are present by my side,
Which yet, I cannot see.
Sometimes I start and gaze around,
With half-bewildered air,
Thinking some lov'd one's form to see,
Within the vacant chair.
Sometimes a gentle rustling
Falls faintly on the ear;
Some angel, with the radiant wing,
Perchance is hov'ring near.
We watch the dying Christian's bed,
When death has marked his prey;
He struggles painfully for breath,
And longs to pass away.
But suddenly his eye grows bright,
Lit by unearthly fires;
He gazes upward with delight,--
The angels strike their lyres.
The music falls upon his ear,
In sweet seraphic strains;
Nought earthly can detain him here,--
His spirit bursts its chains,
Ossian, old Scotia's ancient bard,
The genius of the past;
Saw ghosts upon the fleecy clouds,
And heard them in the blast.
The spirits of the mighty dead,
That were in battle slain,
Came by his master spirit led,
Back to this earth again,
Their shadowy forms, in mist arrayed,
Rode on the drifting clouds;
The fork'd lightnings round them play'd,
And thunders echo'd loud.
Fiercely they shook their airy spears,
And clos'd in deadly fight
Shriek'd, as in agony and fear,
Then vanish'd from the sight.
Thus did old Scotia's ancient bard,
Hold converse with the dead;
"Back in the dim and shadowy past;
Those phantoms all had fled."
There let them rest; years have rolled on,
Down the dark tide of time;
Our loftier faith is built upon
A structure more sublime.
We know if angel spirits come
From other worlds to this,
They are sent to guide us to our home,
Where God our Father is.
