The Ghost’s Petition Christina Rossetti

"There's a footstep coming: look out and see."--
         "The leaves are falling, the wind is calling;
No one cometh across the lea."--

"There's a footstep coming: O sister, look."--
         "The ripple flashes, the white foam dashes;
No one cometh across the brook."--

"But he promised that he would come:
         To-night, to-morrow, in joy or sorrow,
He must keep his word, and must come home.

"For he promised that he would come:
         His word was given; from earth or heaven,
He must keep his word, and must come home.

"Go to sleep, my sweet sister Jane;
         You can slumber, who need not number
Hour after hour, in doubt and pain.

"I shall sit here awhile, and watch;
         Listening, hoping, for one hand groping
In deep shadow to find the latch."

After the dark, and before the light,
         One lay sleeping; and one sat weeping,
Who had watched and wept the weary night.