The three ghosts on the lonely road,
Spake each to one another,
"Whence came that stain upon your mouth
No lifted hand can cover?"
"From eating of forbidden fruit,
Brother, my brother."
The three ghosts on the sunless road,
Spake each to one another,
"Whence came that red burn on your foot
No dust or ash may cover?"
"I stamped a neighbor's hearth-flame out,
Brother, my brother."
The three ghosts on the windless road,
Spake each to one another,
"Whence came that blood upon thy hand
No other hand may cover?"
"From breaking of a woman's heart,
Brother, my brother."
"Yet on the earth, clean men we walked,
Glutton and thief and lover,
White flesh and fair, it hid our stains,
That no man might discover,"
Naked the soul goes up to God,
Brother, my brother.
"YOU KNOW THE OLD, WHILE I KNOW THE NEW"
AFTER DEATH: CHRISTINA ROSSETTI