THE PHANTOM FIELD.
Reading edition
———
BY O. I. VICTOR.
———
The snow lies deep upon the ground,
All icy is the air;
The trees a winding-sheet have found
By the wild wind’s care.
The beast stands trembling in his shed—
The sheep within his fold:
Without, all life is stiff and dead—
Within, all chill and cold.
Why is the air so cold to-night?
The owl shrinks in his nest!
Why does the moon gleam out so bright?
The traveler is at rest!
O, keen the wind and cold the air
Above the Phantom Field!
Yet ghostly forms are stalking there,
Armed with a sword and shield.
And gathering slow in serried rank,
They turn toward the west:
Five thousand coffins guard each flank—
Five hundred stand abreast.
In battle rank, with noiseless tread,
They hurry to the height,
Where stand ten thousand other dead,
Uncoffined for the fight.
O, cold the wind and keen the air
Around the Phantom Height!
Yet spectre men are battling there
In fierce, exultant fight.
And shields are rent, and swords are bent,
And limbs bestrew the ground,
Yet skeletons, with strength unspent,
Strike where a breast is found.
And skulls are cleft on right and left
Till shines the morn o’erhead—
Till twice five thousand coffins stand
Alone, flanking the dead.
O, keen the wind and cold the air
That sweeps above the plain!
Yet must the hollow coffins bear
The skeletons again.
O’er the silent field they haste,
To gather limb and bone:
Though skulls and limbs are wide displaced,
Each coffin knows its own.
Soon every limb is gathered in—
Soon every lid is fast—
And falling into rank again
They turn toward the East.
And marching o’er the frozen plain,
With swift and gliding tread,
They stand beside the graves again
Where sleep the evil dead.
Two death’s-heads stand above each mound;
A fearful watch they keep!
The coffins sink into the ground,
Another year to sleep.
But when another year is fled—
When comes St. Stephen’s night,
The death’s-heads shall unloose their dead
To battle on the height.
And when five hundred years have passed,
The penance shall be done;
The skeletons shall sleep at last,
And moulder, limb and bone.