The Seven Specters Of Darkness

I sat in mindful silence upon a hill of forgotten dreams.

I pondered the meaning of life

and in my spirit I heard their ghastly screams.

I surveyed this gentle hill that rolled softly toward the darkened wood.

And there amidst a backdrop of scrub, seven haggard specters stood.

I did not move, I did not even breathe.

For lest of me, they do soulfully see.

I watched in the quietness of the slowly setting sun.

And when the first one made his way toward me,

I tried in vain to get up and run.

For my feet were planted as like a stone

 secure, heavy and unmoving all feelings gone.

So sat I, on this hill of unimaginable dreams,

as the first apparition approached and began to softly sing.

Across his forehead, there appeared a name…

“Antietam”

and it was then I noticed, he wore the coat of shame.

I asked him just once, how he had come into this way,

and he replied in remorseful tone how he had surrendered that day.

He went on to explain how terrible it truly was,

the guts, the screams, the constant flowing of blood.

But before I could offer my reply,

he simply vanished right before my eyes.

Without pause or further adieu  and

standing before me was specter number two.

I looked up at him and saw much of the same,

however with one exception…he bore a different name.

“Manassas”

Before I could speak, he began to cry,

he bemoaned the loss of his brothers and told of how they had died.

And he like spirit number one,

he too was gone just like the now setting sun.

Now one by one they all came to me.

They told me of such sorrow, my soul still does grieve.

For there was

Chancellorsville, Chickamauga, Vicksburg  and Cold Harbor too.

and they all came one by one singing the same sad tune.

With the twilight now around me fast and sound,

there appeared one more as he rose forth from the cold hard ground.

He bore the name of a place I know so well

His name was Shiloh…

 He then told me about the wicked heart of man and the road to hell.

He went on to explain, that the civil war that put brother against brother

was just another example of what evil when allowed to fester in the heart

of man can do. He pointed out how many are so easily deceived.

He then told me of the tale of the original Shiloh in the bible and hoped I believed.

He said that he and the others came to me today,

to tell me of a danger that awaited us humans caught up in our evil way.

And then as the curtain of night fell complete…he simply faded to a shade of gray.

I got myself up from my seat on this strange and peculiar ground.

I went home and looked in the bible about Shiloh…and below is what I found.

I cannot truly say, why this message came forth this way…but what I really know

is that we should heed the warnings of those that rise up from the ground below.

Facts About Shiloh In The Bible

 The name Shiloh means peaceful, or tranquil, and no doubt it was with The Lord's Presence. No place on God's beautiful earth could have been more secure.

While the Israelites remained faithful and obedient to The Lord, they lived peacefully and perfectly secure. Over time however they became religiously corrupt and immoral in their society, and arrogant toward other nations from which they themselves also originated. They took far too much for granted, assuming that The Lord, Who made them great, would side with them no matter what they did - a big mistake in their time, or ours.

J. Allen Wilson © Three 2006