Classic Poem

The three ghosts on the lonesome road
— Spake each to one another,
" Whence came that stain about your mouth
— No lifted hand may cover? "
" From eating of forbidden fruit,
— Brother, my brother. "

The three ghosts on the sunless road
— Spake each to one another,
" Whence came that red burn on your foot
— No dust nor ash may cover? "
" I stamped a neighbor's hearth-flame out,
— Brother, my brother. "

The three ghosts on the windless road
— Spake each to one another,
" Whence came that blood upon your hand
— No other hand may cover? "
" From breaking of a woman's heart,
— Brother, my brother. "

" Yet on the earth clean men we walked,
— Glutton and Thief and Lover;
White flesh and fair it hid our stains
— That no man might discover. "
" Naked the soul goes up to God,
— Brother, my brother. "