A Ghost Story

I collected the instruments of life around me,

that I might infuse a spark

into the lifeless thing at my feet.

It was already one in the morning:

rain pattered dismally against the panes,

and my lamp was nearly burnt out, when,

by the glimmer of the half-extinguished light,

I saw the dull, yellow eye of the creature open;

it breathed hard.

How to describe my emotions...?

How delineate the wretch?

Yellow skin scarcely covering muscles, arteries;

hair a lustrous black, and flowing;

teeth all pearly whiteness.

I had chosen these features as beautiful.

Beautiful! Great God!