The Ghosthunter

[Pendragon]

The Ghosthunter

The soft rustle of faint movement in the darkness of the hall,
Movement that is so faint I have to wonder if my mind is going soft;
Rustle of a lady’s dress in the hall’s filtered darkness that should not be there—
The hall is manifestly empty to my eyes but not to my ears—rustling dress movement is there.
The rustle moves away down the darkened hall toward a flight of stairs.
Now there are footsteps up the staircase along with swish of rustled dress.
I follow hard upon the footsteps when a turn in the stairs gives light from a broken window—
For a moment in the broken window’s light the staircase holds her in the beam:
Tall for a lady with a wealth of hair spilling from a mass of curls high upon her forehead,
Aristocratic nose and eyes that speak of wealth as does her high-waisted velvet dress.
Her pale arm is on the railing but I think it neither likely she would ever fall nor does she speak.
She smiles at me, tosses her hair, and is gone up the stairs or vanished, I know not it is so quick.
But there is the feeling that anything more is not going to take place in the hall for the night;
I go cut on the lights and collect equipment hoping for a wealth of evidence—just this once…

Pendragon
© 1/25/08

[PrinceMyshkin]

Whoa! You certainly have taken a turn for the gothic and you had me hungering for an attempt to engage with her. I must say I'm caught up short and just a smidge disappointed by the close, after that suspenseful build-up. Do you plan to follow this up?

[dibyendra]

First five lines give us a vibe that it is a story written for a suspense film. I loved your detail attributes of everything from the dark hall to the stairs and the characteristics of the tall lady. The ghost you have described here is not that scary and seemed more likely to be human :p . This clarifies that ghost needn’t always be scary as we always hear. I loved the descriptiveness of this poem and the ghost hunter following that lady (is that you Pen?);) .
I loved the detail picture of the ghost and beauty on the following lines.



The Ghosthunter
I follow hard upon the footsteps when a turn in the stairs gives light from a broken window—
For a moment in the broken window’s light the staircase holds her in the beam:
Tall for a lady with a wealth of hair spilling from a mass of curls high upon her forehead,
Aristocratic nose and eyes that speak of wealth as does her high-waisted velvet dress.
Her pale arm is on the railing but I think it neither likely she would ever fall nor does she speak.
She smiles at me, tosses her hair, and is gone up the stairs or vanished, I know not it is so quick.


Lovely poem Pen.:thumbs_up

Love, Peace, and Greetings,
Dibyendra

[Pendragon]

Whoa! You certainly have taken a turn for the gothic and you had me hungering for an attempt to engage with her. I must say I'm caught up short and just a smidge disappointed by the close, after that suspenseful build-up. Do you plan to follow this up?Have you been reding my blog lately, Jerry? Like say starting with the 12/29/2007 entry? Gothic is hardly the word for the poems I have put there, and they clamor for more. Follow this one up? Hummm? It appeals to me, yes... yes, hummm....

[PrinceMyshkin]

Have you been reding my blog lately, Jerry? Like say starting with the 12/29/2007 entry? Gothic is hardly the word for the poems I have put there, and they clamor for more. Follow this one up? Hummm? It appeals to me, yes... yes, hummm....

The only blogs I read, dear soul, are those that are written on the walls of public lavatories! If yours is to be found there please give me the street coordinates...

[blazeofglory]

Drearily written, it transports us to a world that is scary.