Jane Barlow (1857-1917). Ghost-Bereft (1901). VI. In Sanctuary. Alfred H. Miles, ed. 1907. Women Poets of the Nineteenth Century

Alfred H. Miles, ed. Women Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907.

Ghost-Bereft (1901)
VI. In Sanctuary

By Jane Barlow (1857–1917)


ACROSS the lone floor of the rayless night
One came to a door that was barred on light,
A glimmer agleam through beckoning chink,
As with lamp’s still beam, as with taper’s blink.
And sore she sued their shrine to win,	5
From mirk and moan of the wild shut in,
And fled the fear its menace bore
With shrouding of shadow evermore.

So out of the dark, as it breathed its dread,
Shrill crying, she knocked with a hope ill-sped,	10
For grim and stark that portal wide
At her hand’s touch mocked, and her prayer denied.
Then sick at heart, that found not grace,
She turned her again the night to face,
As terror turns on swift-foot foes—	15
And lo! the clear east all climbing rose.