A comment by gooseyanne (The everyday ramblings of Anne and her Goose) sent me on a bit of a wild goose chase to find the poem she quoted, and I’m delighted to share it back in its entirety. Is this not what friends and google are for – helping us to add to our personal massive piles of random information? Well, yeah. So here you go.
Main Street Antigonish, Nova Scotia. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Antigonish, by Huges Mearns, 1899
(Inspired by reports of a ghost of a man roaming the stairs of a haunted house in Antigonish, Nova Scotia.)
Yesterday, upon the stair,
I met a man who wasn’t there
He wasn’t there again today
I wish, I wish he’d go away…
When I came home last night at three
The man was waiting there for me
But when I looked around the hall
I couldn’t see him there at all!
Go away, go away, don’t you come back any more!
Go away, go away, and please don’t slam the door… (slam!)
Last night I saw upon the stair
A little man who wasn’t there
He wasn’t there again today
Oh, how I wish he’d go away
In 1939 the poem was adapted to a song called “The Little Man Who Wasn’t There” and recorded by the Glenn Miller Orchestra. It was on the Hit Parade for 11 weeks.
This innocent little poem has appeared in variations in literature, film, comics, television and music for over a hundred years. Amazing! Imagine some small thing popping out of your head and becoming the stimulus for further creativity, awakening and motivating future generations! Well, it’s a nice thought, anyway. We all have our delusions of grandeur.
Hope you all have a happy Tuesday. Stay away from those staircases.
Breathing Space 
If I saw a little man, and then he disappeared..well..creepy. 🙂
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I’m actually old enough to remember hearing that song back in the radio days.
Lillian
lillianscupboard.wordpress.com
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I can’t remember when I first heard that little ditty…I guess that makes me older than dirt. 😉
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Well done you! I didn`t know either the origins of that little rhyme or its fame. Goosey is very impressed by your research.
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Hi,
A nice poem that seemed to inspire so many over such a long period, truly amazing.
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that was a great piece of searching which has revealed the whole poem. I can remember that when I was a child…thank you
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Another Canadian History. Thank you and for the music to go with it.
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