My sister-in-law
Claims to have seen her,
The ghost in my house,
Hiding upstairs.

But then, again,
She is from Texas.
They must teach ’em different
Matter out there.

“The ghost? In your house?
Hiding upstairs?”

Oh no! Not her,
But folks down in Texas.

“Afraid I can’t say much
On those folk in Texas.
But ghosts? Oh sure!
We have them out here.”

Well, if there’s a ghost,
Then why can’t I see her?
My sister-in-law,
She claims it’s a girl.

And my wife!
She claims
To also have heard her –

Strange sounding noises
That come from upstairs.

“And you, yourself?
You haven’t seen her?”

Oh no. Of course not!
Nary a thing.
If there is a ghost,
Then she must not like me.

Otherwise, why not
I also had seen
The ghost in my house?

Or hear the same noises
My wife hears or sees?
Or in-laws have seen?

“Well, do you believe
In ghosts in the first place?
Belief, is itself,
A very strange thing –

How it will pop up,
Then set in to form;
Belief in those things,
We think that we see.”

Oh no. Of course not.
How could such things be?
But a ghost in my house?
What novelty!

“Well that may well answer
In what you believe –

But… Pray tell! Please tell,
and you should do well,
by explaining you’re talking
with me?”

©2014, Marvin Welborn
30 March 2014. Revised 14 Apr 15.