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Shivering weakness,
freezing rain
the children know
it's happening again.

Watching the house
sit black on the hill
the old man is long buried
but he walks there still

When the moon is just right
and the house stands alight
shadows flick in the windows
and haunts float in plain sight

With the bible in hand
the priest took his last stand
and braved the shadows
of that crooked old man

Waves crashed the rocks
and children rocked with the fright
as he stood at the doorway
and called to the night.

"Willem, Oh Willem,
I vow to you now,
In the name of the Savior
In the name of God's crown.

"You must rest in the earth
for homeward you're bound
whether you go up
or whether sent down.

"You can not stay here
you must give up your life.
You died on the sea
in a storm on that night."

The house grew so bright
and the wind whistled loud
some people say,
that the noise shook the ground.

I remember the sound
and I remember the night
I remember the priest
and how his hair had turned white.

We still gather in town
with children gathered round
to show them the shadows
and to tell about the sound

Some nights we can hear
in the wind as it howls,
the words of the priest
and the words of his vow

"Willem, Oh Willem,
I vow to you now,
In the name of the Savior
In the name of God's crown.

"You must rest in the earth
for homeward you're bound
whether you go up
or whether sent down.

"You can not stay here
you must give up your life.
You died on the sea
in a storm on that night."

Learn more about this author, James Thaddeus Presley.
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