Classic Poem

There is darkness on the earth to-night,
There is darkness in my heart;
And from the gloom to sudden sight
Strange spectres stir and start.

And by my side these spectres stalk
With slow remorseless tread;
Oh, God! that things like these should walk,
Though graves give up their dead.

To lay such ghosts as these I wist
All masses were in vain,
Though prayer should rise like morning mist,
And beads should fall like rain.

For the dead that fill my heart to-night
No cerements have nor crave;
You could not hide them from my sight
Though earth were all a grave.