Haunted

There came a whisper in the night, A little cry across the years; And I who heard, in deep affright, Awakened with unnumbered fears. 'It is some deed that I have done, Some sin I wrought, long, long ago; But hush! am I the only one? Wherefore am I then troubled so? 'For all men do some evil deed, And some men falter, some men fall; Do ghosts of Selfishness and Greed Come back, O God, to haunt them all!' Then came a whisper in the night, A little cry across the years; And I who heard, in deep affright, Listened with wild, unnumbered fears. 'I am the ghost of that pure deed You might have done, but did not do; I am the ghost of that good seed You might have sown when Life was new. 'And this it is that haunts you now, That deed undone, that seed unsown; Too late, too late to take the plough, The Spring is fled, the May is flown!' And this I heard amid the night, This voice that called across the years, And when the dawn came, silver-white, I was companioned with my tears.