Whistling in the Dark

I heard someone whistling in the night,

Outside my window in the dead of night.

It was a plaintive air.

I heard no footfall

Yet the whistling grew fainter

As the whistler passed away.

The world I knew was sleeping;

Only the whistler and I

Awake in the dark.

 

The tune came filtering back to me,

Forgotten over the years,

And he who first whistled it to me so long ago

Is gone for ever;

His bones were laid to rest

When there were many whom I used to know

Still living, still going about the world,

But who, like my friend

That one time whistled this air

Have journeyed on.

 

Who was it whistled in the dark

Last night?