An Edinburgh Story

In Edinburgh's drizzly, twilight haze
we took a ghost walk through the old town streets
and wandered through a dormant, undead maze
of long ago, and wondered what we'd meet.
the mite-chewed Wheel and Gallows slept in rot,
The Branks, the Iron Maiden in repose,
we peeped and probed and scrutinized the lot,
but nowhere did we see a single ghost.
Beaten, we snapped memories and caught our flight,
wished the wayward spirits and Scots goodbye
later, I browsed through photos of that night,
when a gray, pellucid figure caught my eye.
There hadn't been an older man en route
in a top hat and sixteenth century suit.