Classic and Contemporary Poetry
IN THE CARLYLE HOUSE, CHELSEA, by DORA SIGERSON SHORTER Poem Explanation Poet's Biography First Line: Up the steep stair they clatter to each room Last Line: Place for her golden bulbs within the ground. Alternate Author Name(s): Sigerson, Dora; Shorter, Mrs. Clement Subject(s): Chelsea, Massachusetts; Haunted Houses; Houses | ||||||||
UP the steep stair they clatter to each room, In whispered merriment they pierce the gloom Of Time's sweet mercy, who with his grey sheet Did seek in vain to stay their restless feet. Their peeping eyes and prying fingers' thrust Disturb Death's shroud and wanton in the dust. Here, swift as hawks that scenting from on high Some quiv'ring morsel leave the smiling sky, They pounce on these old letters 'neath the glass, Swooping to look, they linger loth to pass; From this sad reading rise to arbitrate The secret of domestic love or hate; And with some heat discuss when they surprise Some tender message meant for other eyes. Grey beard, young cheek, they linger long to look. His pipe! his bed! his pencil! or his book! Her picture! purse! with laughter some one sees The little basket for her household keys. Those keys, which should that mistress hand arise Would shut this sanctum from these prying eyes, And double-lock the secret of this hearth From hyperbolic cant and noxious mirth. And I, who passed in pleased experiment To leave no nook unsought, but eager went In this ghost-haunted house without a fear, Pricked every shadow lest it hide a tear. Laughed in that room built by a builder's skill To circle silence. Let my pulses thrill To know 'here did he stand where my foot falls And spoke to that great world shut from these walls.' And I, who went all eager as the rest, Joined in their curious prying or their jest, Grew soon awearyor perhaps ashamed Leaned to the windowfound a picture framed So sweet, so sudden! that my pulses knew How sad the haunted place I had come through. So quick they leaped to meet this gentle sight, A little maid with tresses plaited bright Within a neighbour's garden planting seeds: Intent, demure, she pulled the unsightly weeds, With fond maternal air a place she found And laid her precious bulbs within the ground. And this the picture that within my heart I do encourage most to hold a part In all that's treasured of remembered ways Which memory brings in solitary days. Nor shall I dream of this old house, nor go In through its silent shadows to and fro To praise the genius that once sheltered here, Or for love's disillusion drop a tear. Nor ponder by the letters 'neath the glass, But to the open casement quick shall pass. There from the house of what has been to gaze On Spring, on love, on youth, on hope, who plays Within the neighbour's garden sowing seeds. Intent, demure, she pulled the unsightly weeds, And with a quaint maternal air she found Place for her golden bulbs within the ground. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TWO-RIVER LEDGER by KHALED MATTAWA SEVEN TWILIGHTS: 3 by CONRAD AIKEN FOR THE REBUILDING OF A HOUSE by WENDELL BERRY JERONIMO'S HOUSE by ELIZABETH BISHOP MENDING THE ADOBE by HAYDEN CARRUTH MY HUT; AFTER TRAN QUANG KHAI by HAYDEN CARRUTH THE WIND ON THE HILLS by DORA SIGERSON SHORTER |
|