In casts of iron there rests a man
Of steely braces and wrought iron hands
Incredulous – his one feature, being only referred to as a creature
Many had forsaken what was once lost
As Marley’s Ghost counts the cost
Of his life, swimming in sin; old Scrooge’s mind is wearing thin
Alone he has been, but no more…
Now the Invisible World is at his door
By Samuel Fawcett
Of steely braces and wrought iron hands’ illustration by Charles Green, c. 1912
This poem was inspired by Charles Dickens’s, A Christmas Carol – from Stave I.
‘and being, from the emotion he (Scrooge) had undergone, or the fatigues of the day, or his glimpse of the Invisible World, or the dull conversation of the Ghost, or the lateness of the hour, much in need of repose; went straight to bed, without undressing, and fell asleep upon the instant’ – Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol, Dec. 1843.
Parisian Poetry 