Is there anybody there? said the Traveler
Knocking on the moonlit door;
And his horse in the silence champed the grasses
Of the forest's ferny floor:
A bird flew up from the turret
Above the Traveler's head:
And he struck the door again a second time;
Is there anybody there
Calling to The Listeners?
In the moonlit shadows' glare
I stand here a messenger
Through the silence voices whisper
Phantoms listen unaware
In this realm the night grows crisper
Is there anybody there?
Is there anybody there? he said
But no one came down to the Traveler;
No head from the leaf-fringed sill
Leaned over to meet his grey eyes
Where he stood perplexed and still
Only a host of phantom listeners
Dwelt in the lonely house then
Stood listening in the quiet moonlight
To that voice from the world of men:
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 Traveler's call
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;
Is there anybody there
Calling to The Listeners?
In the moonlit shadows' glare
I stand here a messenger
Through the silence voices whisper
Phantoms listen unaware
In this realm the night grows crisper
Is there anybody there?
For he suddenly struck the door even
Louder and lifted his head:—
Tell them I came and no one answered
That I kept my word" he said
Never a stir from the listeners
Though every word he spake
Echoed through the shadowy still house
From the one man left awake:
Is there anybody there
Is there anybody there
They heard his foot on the stirrup
And the sound of iron on stone
And how the silence surged softly backward
When the plunging hoofs were gone
Never a stir from the listeners
Though every word he spake
Echoed through the shadowy still house
From the one man left awake:
Is there anybody there
Is there anybody there
They heard his foot on the stirrup
And the sound of iron on stone
And how the silence surged softly backward
When the plunging hoofs were gone