A GHOST OUT OF STRATFORD

For all the crowd that packed the house to-night,

Marked you the vacant seat none came to claim,...

The fourth row from the front, and to the right?...

Vacant, I call it now.... But I could name

A thing that happened when the lights were off,

Of one who walked in buckles down the aisle,

Wearing a great hat that he scorned to doff,

And richly kerchiefed, wrist and neck in style.

Once in the play — I swear it — once I heard,

Along the tumult of our loud applause,

A sly and ghostly chuckle at a word

That Falstaff mouthed with those outrageous jaws...

I think he liked the play... and stayed, no doubt,

Long after us, and lingered going out.