Revolt of the Spooks

Three rough coffins, mouldy and rank,
Lay exposed on the railway bank,
Out of one of them fell… a hank
    Of plaited auburn hair

Startled wraiths in cloudy raiment,
(Wondering what this new born ray meant).
Questioned if the light of day meant
    Judgement Day!..or what!

“Long we’ve lain in peaceful slumber,
“Stowed away in bog and lumber,
(“Years that none of us can number)
    “By the world forgot.”

“Thinking nothing could distrust us,
“Waiting for the day superbus;
“Nor, we hoped, would aught perturb us
    “In our narrow cot.”

Then they arose!… (a gruesome sight).
And walked the railway track by night,
“Mock-beggar” folks were wild with fright;
(They’ll tell you they were not!)

Still, they knew what this portended,
Said it meant the railway ended,
Till those broken beds were mended
    In that awesome spot.

Meanwhile the ghosts in sad conclave,
Had gathered round an open grave,
And each in turn began to rave,
    And curse the situation.

A grisly fragment (once a man),
Arranged his bones and this began:
“Dear spectral friends, I have a plan
    For your consideration.”

(With rattling bones and mouldy hair,
For that is all of him was there.)
One by one he made them swear
    To haunt the railway station.

“Haunt it waking, haunt it sleeping,
“Haunt it till the town is “creeping.”
“Mothers trembling, children weeping!”
    Such was his oration.

Next, a wizened creature rose,
Half-kneeling (for he had no toes)
“That’s quite absurd what you propose,
    “There isn’t any station!”

“Dear me,” the other said. “That’s true.”
“I quite forgot! But what say you?
“I say that we must make them rue
    “Their ruthless excavation.”

Wheezing moans like snuffy snores
(The analogue of live “encores”)
Attestified the ghosts’ applause
    And hearty approbation.

“We must haunt the ‘right of way,’
“Promenading night and day,
“Till our bones are laid away
    “For one more long vacation.”

This he spoke: and every ghost
Was quickly stationed at his post;
And then one cried: “I give a toast!”
    “To Railways!… condemnation!”

Just then the engine whistle blew,
(Astonishing that mouldy crew)
But they had orders what to do,
    To check this innovation.

Hand in hand, across the track,
They formed to force the engine back;
And sure enough, the train did slack!
    (What is the explanation?)

Threatening and black, in a cloud of steam,
The engine reached the dividing stream.
And stopped!… Did the driver hear a scream
    Of ghostly imprecation?

Whatever it was, he soon turned tail,
(Mocked, as he went, by a ghostly wail),
Not since that day does he ever fail
    To stop at the graveyard Station.”

L’envoi
They’re buried now,
And lie again at peace,
Awaiting, (as must we),
“The last release.”