Sonnets From Other Lives: Haunting

Rumor is the middle school is haunted.
Doors close & open by their own volition.
Some of the night custodians are daunted
by the stories & report feeling a frisson
—sensing a presence in an empty place.
More than one of them reported seeing
a girl—long hair—long skirt—a smiling face—
who disappears on second glance. Believing
they hear her giggle in some empty room
many choose to trust in their perception.
We have that atavistic desire to
believe in a beyond & so rejection
of death’s cold hand is comforting. Now most
of us probably long to see a ghost.