Thus to Revisit

DEEP in the ground the dead
should be, in lead fast bound,
their names in marble overhead;
but you went free;
you were given to the wind instead,
and to the sea.

The spells by which a ghost is laid
I know; the amulets made
to wear between the midnight and the dawn,
I have them on.

What charm avails
for ghosts that go
not when cocks crow,
nor come in witches’ tales?

Under a mound, under a stone,
they bide, who wait for the last day;
but your way is the way
of wings that ride,
of sails that come
on every tide, home.