the man who wasn't there...

Yesterday, upon the stair
I saw a man who wasn’t there
He wasn’t there again today
I wish, I wish, he’d go away.

"Antigonish" -William Hughes Mearns

so i do enjoy a bit of classical literature and this is one of my favorite excerpts because it paints such a haunting picture through its few words.
i stumbles upon this piece that revisits Mearns' original.
i kind of like it.

I am that man upon the stair
The man at whom you stand and stare
Your conscience pricks
And makes you glare
Yet I am here
And you are there
You live your life
I haunt these rooms
For you the sunlight
For me these tombs
Record not
Your mind doeth hold
Of evil doings
And slashes bold
Where once you held me dear as friend
T’was you who brought my grisly end

So if you wish me to go away
‘Tis a penance you shall pay
To see me on this stair each day
‘Til end of time,
til you go away.

~David McArthur