This is a terrific thread. For one thing, it gives me a chance to plug CHANCE OF A GHOST: An Anthology of Contemporary Ghost Poems, which you can get from Helicon Nine Editions (
www.heliconnine.com). It's full of good scary stuff. (Full disclosure: I'm in it too).
Here's an old favorite of mine from the treasury of folk poetry - very good for reading at the fireside on a cold winter night. I'm modernizing the Yorkshire dialect:
THE CLEVELAND LYKE-WAKE DIRGE
On this night, on this night,
Every night and all,
Fire and flame and candle-light,
And Christ take up thy soul.
When thou from hence away art past,
Every night and all,
To Whinny-Muir thou comest at last,
And Christ take up the soul.
If e'er thou gavest hose and shoon,
Every night and all,
Then sit thee down and put them on,
And Christ take up thy soul.
But if hose and shoon thou ne'er gave none,
Every night and all,
The whins shall prick thee to the bare bone,
And Christ take up thy soul.
From Whinny-Muir when thou art past,
Every night and all,
To Purgatory Fire thou comest at last,
And Christ take up thy soul.
If e'er thou gavest meat and drink,
Every night and all,
The fire shall never make thee shrink,
And Christ take up they soul.
But if meat and drink thou ne'er gave none,
Every night and all,
The fire shall burn thee to the bare bone,
And Christ take up thy soul.
From Purgatory Fire when thou art past,
Every night and all,
To the Bridge of Dread thou comest at last,
And Christ take up thy soul.
If e'er thou gavest silver and gold,
Every night and all,
On the Bridge of Dread thou'lt find a foothold,
And Christ take up thy soul.
But if silver and gold thou ne'er gave ane,
Every night and all,
Down, down thou fall'st into Hell's flame,
And Christ take up thy soul.
On this night, on this night,
Every night and all,
Fire and flame and candle-light,
And Christ take up thy soul.