Premonition and Poetry - A Halloween Experience

I don't know if you believe in paranormal activity, PSI, or other similar phenomena. I know that I'm quite skeptical of such things. However, after what happened recently, you begin to wonder. Could reading a poem about death be spurred by the passing of a loved one all the way across the country? I'm still not certain. However, the coincidence of my reading Paul Laurence Dunbars poem "Ere Sleep Comes Down, To Soothe the Weary Eyes" on the same day that my 100 year old grandmother dies is, too say the least, unusual.

ERE sleep comes down to soothe the weary eyes, Which all the day with ceaseless care have sought
The magic gold which from the seeker flies; Ere dreams put on the gown and cap of thought,
And make the waking world a world of lies,- Of lies most palpable, uncouth, forlorn,
That say life's full of aches and tears and sighs,- Oh, how with more than dreams the soul is torn,
Ere sleep comes down to soothe the weary eyes.

Ere sleep comes down to soothe the weary eyes, How all the griefs and heartaches we have known
Come up like pois'nous vapors that arise From some base witch's caldron, when the crone,
To work some potent spell, her magic plies. The past which held its share of bitter pain,
Whose ghost we prayed that Time might exorcise, Comes up, is lived and suffered o'er again,
Ere sleep comes down to soothe the weary eyes.

Ere sleep comes down to soothe the weary eyes, What phantoms fill the dimly lighted room;
What ghostly shades in awe-creating guise Are bodied forth within the teeming gloom.
What echoes faint of sad and soul-sick cries, And pangs of vague inexplicable pain
That pay the spirit's ceaseless enterprise, Come thronging through the chambers of the brain
Ere sleep comes down to soothe the weary eyes.

Ere sleep comes down to soothe the weary eyes, Where ranges forth the spirit far and free?
Through what strange realms and unfamiliar skies. Tends her far course to lands of mystery?
To lands unspeakable-beyond surmise, Where shapes unknowable to being spring,
Till, faint of wing, the Fancy fails and dies Much wearied with the spirit's journeying,
Ere sleep comes down to soothe the weary eyes.

Ere sleep comes down to soothe the weary eyes, How questioneth the soul that other soul,-
The inner sense which neither cheats nor lies, But self exposes unto self, a scroll
Full writ with all life's acts unwise or wise, In characters indelible and known;
So, trembling with the shock of sad surprise, The soul doth view its awful self alone,
Ere sleep comes down to soothe the weary eyes.

When sleep comes down to seal the weary eyes, The last dear sleep whose soft embrace is balm,
And whom sad sorrow teaches us to prize For kissing all our passions into calm,
Ah, then, no more we heed the sad world's cries, Or seek to probe th' eternal mystery,
Or fret our souls at long-withheld replies, At glooms through which our visions cannot see,
When sleep comes down to seal the weary eyes.

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• Paul
• Laurence
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• Ere
• Sleep
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• Soothe
• The
• Weary
• Eyes
• poem
• poetry
• death
• passing
• on
• grandmother
• Maine
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• Long
• Beach

[tushygalore]

Very cool backdrop for this video! As far as your story goes...who knows... could be something paranormal or just a poignant coincidence but either way isn't it nice to ponder?

[Amiduffer]

@tushygalore Yes, its the kind of experience that is rather unique in ones life. Thanks for responding.

[ockteby]

I loved the ship in the background, and as usual the poem too. Happy Halloween, Drew.

[Amiduffer]

@ockteby Oh yeah! I was lucky as hell to have gone by that spot to video tape and having that thing go by. An earlier take was ruined by the horn it blew as it turned around.

[pestr999]

I didn't feel any premonition, myself, but it's an interesting coincidence.

[Amiduffer]

@pestr999 Heh heh.

[waterdog226]

We live in a multiverse rich with possibility.

[oopspaw]

@Amiduffer .. so many talented people get snuffed out so early in life. it's so sad b/c they probably would have gone on to create more and more if they'd had a long life.

[Amiduffer]

@oopspaw Thanks. Dunbar was one of the last remaining classical poets. Shame that he lived such a short life.

[Amiduffer]

@settemesi I'm wary of spiritualism. Too often its been an area fraught with fraud and manipulation.