#MIDDLEBURY
Ghost Music
Robert Graves
Gloomy and bare the organ-loft,
Bent-backed and blind the organist.
From rafters looming shadowy,
From the pipes’ tuneful company,
Drifted together drowsily,
Innumerable, formless, dim,
The ghosts of long-dead melodies,
Of anthems, stately, thunderous,
Of Kyries shrill and tremulous:
In melancholy drowsy-sweet
They huddled there in harmony.
Like bats at noontide rafter-hung.
About this poem
“Ghost Music” was published in “Over the Brazier” (The Poetry Bookshop, 1916).
About Robert Graves
Robert Graves was born on July 24, 1895, in Wimbledon, England. His collections of poetry include “Goliath and David” (Chiswick Press, 1916) and “The Pier-Glass” (Alfred A. Knopf, 1921). He died on Dec. 7, 1985.
The Academy of American Poets is a nonprofit, mission-driven organization, whose aim is to make poetry available to a wider audience. Email The Academy at poem-a-day@poets.org.
This poem is in the public domain. Originally published in Poem-a-Day, www.poets.org. Distributed by King Features Syndicate.
