The Last Ghost

Where the last ghost is laid 
    Men may securely rest;
I know my time has not come,
    For I am still possessed.
And all the neighbours cry
    That know my board and bed,
A wonder on the nights
    That do not strike me dead.

Space in my heart for a dream! 
    That dream torments me still,
I have had my fill of all,
    Not love not knowledge fill
The empty place it left—
    Like God I look within
Myself and view the void
    Where solemn planets spin,
Planets of age and youth,
    Planets of sun and shade,
Whiteness, brightness, gold hair
    Where is the last ghost laid?

I ask the whirling sky,
    With solemn stars arrayed
Not for my burial.
    Where is the last ghost laid?
(Laughing in my beard)
    Winds blow, I am not afraid;
I ask the hurtling winds,
    "Where is the last ghost laid?"



Source: O'Connor, Frank; Three Old Brothers and Other Poems; 1936;
London; Thomas Nelson & Sons Ltd.; p.12