{
 "id": "james-mcintyre/a-ghost-story",
 "title": "A Ghost Story",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "James McIntyre",
 "poet_slug": "james-mcintyre",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Poems of James McIntyre",
 "book_slug": "poems-of-james-mcintyre",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 71,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1889,
  "venue": "Poems of James McIntyre (1889)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/cihm_11791"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/james-mcintyre_poetry",
  "file": "poetry.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://archive.org/details/cihm_09542",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/36068",
   "https://archive.org/details/cihm_11791"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 40,
  "n_stanzas": 10,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 44,
  "max_indent": 0
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "There was a bonnie Scottish lass,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "She had two lovers green as grass;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "This fair maiden’s name was Mary,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And she was playful as a fairy.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Lovers haunted her night and day,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "She could not make thera stay away;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Two then sought favor in her eyes,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But both alike she did despise.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "She promised each one to reward,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "If ho would go to the church yard,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Which was close by, the first dark night",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "So that the other he would fright.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "No other road it could be found",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To Mary’s, save by burial ground;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "She knew that each was coward loon,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When nights were dark without a moon.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "When each for to secure his bride,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He in the grave yard then did hide,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Each thinking ’twas a glorious lark",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To frighten other in the dark.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "But both wore cowards⁠—far from brave,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Each trembled alongside of grave",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Expecting to see ghost arise,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Strange sights they float before their eyes.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Both had around them sheets so white",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Each wished the other for to fright,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "While rival on the road did pass,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "They both quick rose, but sad, alas.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Each saw a ghost; the one did faint,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The other’s horror who can paint;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He there severelyy bruised his bones,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Madly rushing o’er grave stones.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And he did get a fearful fall,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Jumping o’er the churchyard wall;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "They both fell sick and lost their pride,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And neither went to claim his bride.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "When they arose from their sick bed,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "They heard the news that Mary wed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A brave and handsome farmer’s son,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who never from a ghost had run.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}