Sara Teasdale’s speaker goes back to the noisy city where her old loves remain. At first she feels protected by a new love: her heart is full, her eyes are laughing. Meeting the first former lover is easy—he had been loud and extravagant, and they can talk about ordinary things because that past is safely buried. But when she meets the second, the one who loved her almost silently, she is shaken. That love never had the release of words or touch, so it could not properly die. It lingers as a ghost, stirring in all that was never said. The closing repetition shows the change: she still has her new love’s glory, but her eyes are suddenly afraid. The mood shifts from bright confidence to something quiet and eerie—a haunting made not of rejection, but of silence.
The Ghost — Summary
I went back to the clanging city, I went back where my old loves stayed, But my heart was full of my new love's glory, My eyes were laughing and unafraid.
I met one who had loved me madly And told his love for all to hear-- But we talked of a thousand things together, The past was buried too deep to fear.
I met the other, whose love was given With never a kiss and scarcely a word-- Oh, it was then the terror took me Of words unuttered that breathed and stirred.
Oh, love that lives its life with laughter Or love that lives its life with tears Can die--but love that is never spoken Goes like a ghost through the winding years. . . .
I went back to the clanging city, I went back where my old loves stayed, My heart was full of my new love's glory,-- But my eyes were suddenly afraid.