Kenneth Slessor

Here you will find the Poem The Ghost of poet Kenneth Slessor

The Ghost

'BEES of old Spanish wine 
Pipe at this Inn to-night, 
Music and candleshine 
Fill the dim chambers . . . . 
'Fans toss and ladies pace, 
Flutes of cold metal blow, 
Maidens like winds of lace 
Tease the dark passages . . . . 
'Run, you fat kitchen-boys, 
Pasties in pyramids 
Rise while your masters poise 
Flagons with silver lids . . . . 
'Ha! Let the platters fume, 
Jars wink and bottles drip, 
Staining with smoke and spume 
Lips, tables, tapestries . . . . 
'Wenches with tousled silk, 
Mouths warm and bubble eyes, 
Tumble those beds of milk 
Under carved canopies . . . . 
'Now let your lovers dive 
Deep to that hurricane . . . . 
O, to be there alive, 
Breathing again!' 
So the ghost cried, and pressed to the dark pane, 
Like a white leaf, his face . . . in vain . . . in vain..