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<h2><SPAN name="chap5.56"></SPAN>SPIRITS OF THE DEAD</h2>
<h2>by Edgar Allan Poe</h2>
<p>
1<br/>
<br/>
Thy soul shall find itself alone<br/>
‘Mid dark thoughts of the grey tomb-stone—<br/>
Not one, of all the crowd, to pry<br/>
Into thine hour of secrecy:<br/>
<br/>
2<br/>
<br/>
Be silent in that solitude<br/>
Which is not loneliness—for then<br/>
The spirits of the dead who stood<br/>
In life before thee are again<br/>
In death around thee—and their will<br/>
Shall then overshadow thee: be still.<br/>
<br/>
3<br/>
<br/>
For the night—tho’ clear—shall frown—<br/>
And the stars shall look not down,<br/>
From their high thrones in the Heaven,<br/>
With light like Hope to mortals given—<br/>
But their red orbs, without beam,<br/>
To thy weariness shall seem<br/>
As a burning and a fever<br/>
Which would cling to thee for ever:<br/>
<br/>
4<br/>
<br/>
Now are thoughts thou shalt not banish—<br/>
Now are visions ne’er to vanish—<br/>
From thy spirit shall they pass<br/>
No more—like dew-drop from the grass:<br/>
<br/>
5<br/>
<br/>
The breeze—the breath of God—is still—<br/>
And the mist upon the hill<br/>
Shadowy—shadowy—yet unbroken,<br/>
Is a symbol and a token—<br/>
How it hangs upon the trees,<br/>
A mystery of mysteries!—<br/></p>
<p>1827.</p>
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