Goodbye To Old Willie

‘Is there anybody there?’ he said But no one descended to the Traveller;No head from the leaf-fringed sill Leaned over and looked into his grey eyes,Where he stood perplexed and still.But only a host of phantom listenersThat dwelt in the lone house thenStood listening in the quiet of the moonlight To that voice from the world of men:Stood thronging the faint moonbeams on the dark stair,That goes down to the empty hall,Hearkening in an air stirred and shaken By the lonely Travellers call.And he felt in his heart their strangeness,Their stillness answering his cry,While his horse moved, cropping the dark turf,‘Neath the starred and leafy sky;For he suddenly smote on the door, even Louder, and lifted his head: -‘Tell them I came, and no one answered,That I kept my word,’ he said.