Classic Poem

In through the porch and up the silent stair;
Little is changed, I know so well the ways;—
Here, the dead came to meet me; it was there
The dream was dreamed in unforgotten days

But who is this that hurries on before,
A flitting shade the brooding shades among?—
She turned,—I saw her face—O God, it wore
The face I used to wear when I was young!

I thought my spirit and my heart were tamed
To deadness; dead the pangs that agonise
The old grief springs to choke me—I am shamed
Before that little ghost with eager eyes

O turn away, let her not see, not know!
How should she bear it, how should understand?
O hasten down the stairway, haste and go
And leave her dreaming in the silent land