As we begin our spiral into the world of the supernatural this Halloween, lets take a moment to remember literatures contributions to the pantheon of ghoulish figures and traditions. This week Kristina Reynolds’ dark poem, ‘The Estranged’, revives the ghost of a lady in white…
The Estranged
These long bitter days, these cold winter nights
Have me frozen and wasting away,
Your absence is false and your silence is loud
Yet at night I continue to pray:
“My darling, my sweet, at my door you do knock
I hear you painfully wailing my name…
And still, though I loved you, and long for your touch
I have buried you – I wish you away!”
Your ghost, with me always, in the corner of my eye,
Your body, battered and bruised
You stand by my bedside and howl through the night
So lonely, so broken, confused.
“My lady in white, my sweetest delight,
Why do you haunt me so?”
You smile at me widely, stroking my face,
Deranged, as you rock to and fro.
These dreams, once dreams, now nightmares, my love
You made a promise, with me, you would stay,
And those stairs that creak in the nighttime
Let me know that you are on your way.
But the screaming! The screaming! I can’t take the screaming!
You are such a wretched dead widow!
How different things might have been
Had I not thrown you out of that window.
