Tenfold Wraiths

A mystery of wraiths, is unfolding in Hammersmith, a district in West London, England, located in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in 1898.

I
Before the gloomy headstones of the manifold lain, 
Stood the queer and shadowy guise of an unkempt man,
With a torn top hat and coat that raught the ground bain,
Whereat the howling winds erstwhile, forthwith lan. 
Behold, the barrow of the graven.
II
"'Tis a cold and damp night to come to see the dead,"  
I told the wan man in black, as I lean'd from behind, 
He said, "Forsooth sexton, when he lieth in thy stead,
Whilst thou dwellest upon this earth of souls unkind." 
Harken, to the birr of the haven.
III
He said, "Doom'd are men whose dern, time hath unmask'd,
And their wite, shall be twofold than a wanhope of mothers."
"I have done nothing to pother the dead," I said and then ask'd,
"Wherefore do you, deem me in hoker, with the sins of others?"
Begone at once, thou greedy raven.
IV
When I near'd the unearthly fellow, he forworth'd into a mist,
But not before he quoth, "Whate'er thou seekest, I shall give!"
And thus, I was thrav'd to come back the next night and to wist,
I besought, "Do not go yet, if you are truly a ghost, for I live!"
Rigmarole of the wealthy shaven.
V
Henceforth, the following night, I came back to see the ghost,
Whereupon, before forlorn headstones thither, he stood anew,
"Thy misgiving wieldeth thee, for answers to heed the most," 
Said the ghost beforehand, when the blore of a night blew.  
The wode whims of the draven.
VI
"With whom am I speaking, that I do not know your name?"
I had spoken, as he did not flinch, or did he shy away blive,
"O my name is not an o'erridding cark for the nonce to tame,
I was a hathel in foretime, before the swines that now thrive!"
At last, the dreadful eyes of the craven.
VII
His devilish eyes full of naught as drops of rain would trickle,
When I look'd with great awe, and want'd to hasten my feet, 
"Unthank cometh with a dastardly mien leading thee fickle, 
Thou canst not run sexton, from my wreak and the sleet!"
Alack, the gruesome truth I awaken.
VIII
I had run helter-skelter, from the shadow of the graveyard,
Till I had raught my home, and bewilder'd of what I had seen,
For I could not believe, what stood within the churchyard, 
The ghastly seeming of the ghost of death who men preen.  
O my beshrew'd soul I have forsaken.
IX
I slept that night fearful and frett'd with the evil thought,
That I had forlet my soul to hell, and the ghost had a name,
Natheless, I fraist'd to forhold the truth that I had sought,
In the depth of my blinding and unaware guilt and shame.
The sackless ones bewray'd and mistaken.
X
Thenceforth, I went back to the graveyard of the headstones, 
To speak to that fiend again, who had bore the awful guise,
Whilst I walk'd along the soggy mire of the dusty footstones, 
I yell'd, "You are no more than a nightmare, for I shall rise!"
The troth of those brazen fons shaken.
XI
"Thou darest me, when all I have done, is given thee the truth,
And if I tarry before thee, upon this earth ungainly and laden, 
'Tis for my sake, so that I can abide with my body without ruth,
All that I want, is to lie blithe and free beside my fairest maiden!"
Wearisome words of those unshaken.
XII
"Wherefore, do you haunt me madly you drasty wretch?
And wherefore, must I thole today, your burthen of wrath?
For this is an illness I should warish, and you will not dretch,
Therefore, let me be I beseech, and follow after your path!"
The forbye man of whom I tell, hath been taken.
XIII 
He start'd to laugh at once, before he then answer'd my frain,
"Thy brash tongue sexton, shall not rid thee easily of me ne'er,
But thou shalt feel my breath, with e'ery chilling frost and blain,
And thou mayest curse me fore'er, thinking thou art too cle'er."
The token of the forthcoming winter hath woven.
XIV
E'ery night I came back to see, the hoary graveyard amain,
Seeking to find and understand the root of all this madness,
Through those lasting days of snow and e'enings of the rain,
And e'ery time he stood gawking and sorrowful of his sadness.
The tawny leaves wanz'd and then hoven.
XV
My muddl'd mind was startl'd with the ordeal I had fear'd,
And I wander'd hopelessly like the bold wraith I had loath'd,
Within the dirt of my shabby hair and as well, my long beard,
I slowly afterwards, became a man untidy and badly cloth'd.
Unlucky, is the leery man too sloven.
XVI
Upon the fortnight, my unyielding nightmare had end'd,
For I met my unwavering foe and thereafter buried him,
"Begone fiend, fore'er onto the shades of death you wend'd.
Hitherto, my days and my nights, are either too dull or grim."
The bustling trees had soon cloven.
XVII
He led me to a dungeon where his foul body lain and spoke, 
"Hither, is the unwant'd truth my dear sexton, and unbury me,
And see straightway, those rotten bones that the devil awoke, 
For thou shalt know the bare truth, thou wishest or not to be!"
The blazing fire burneth of the oven.
XVIII
Behind the rusty iron gate I unburied his soul beneath,
And I saw the lave of the bones that he had forewarn'd,
"Behold sexton, my tiresome bones and my name uneath, 
And my careless death, shall be wroke from the unearn'd!"
The wark of the living that are frozen.
XIX
The wooden box bore no name, unmark'd and unknown, 
"Thou knowest the truth now, bury me beside her seeming, 
I shall haunt thee no more, as the blooms are o'erblown,
For I fear now, the willowy man is nigh that fearless being!"
Well-groom'd in black, with a coat and hosen. 
XX
A lone driver in a dark hansom through the fog had beseem'd,
Taking the drear wretch that had haunt'd me into the blurry night,
But as the wheels spun, he said those eldritch words that teem'd,
"Beware the tenfold wraiths of Hammersmith, haunting with fright!"  
Behold, the skulking eyes of the chosen.