For seven days, the soul lingers on in the grave at daytime, but returns to its former house at night to observe the behavior of those left behind.

I then: "If soul that to the verge of life delays Repentance, linger in that lower space, Nor hither mount, unless good prayers befriend, How chanc'd admittance was vouchsaf'd to him?"

But a soul with unfin- ished business in the world might linger.

HOW long does the soul linger after the brain is destroyed?

Rabbi Refson said the soul of the deceased lingers above the grave, and throughout the weekend, buses arrived with followers from Crown Heights.

"Usually the soul lingers to the end, unable to escape, and vanishes or dies when the body dies," the voice answered, its words as evenly spaced as if timed to a metronome.

Unfortunately, I was never able to ascertain the exact cause of what I can only describe as a rupture between our dimension and this 'beyond' where souls linger after death.

It was good priestly practice to absolve bodies not utterly claimed by death's iciness, in the hope that a repentant soul lingered, awaiting the blessed word.

Bertha would not have made the distinction, and although I do not share the ancient Egyptian belief that the soul lingers near the mortal remains, I preferred not to take the chance.

But in the French Quarter, the soul of New Orleans, the smell of last night's whiskey and jambalaya and blackened redfish lingers not far above the empty streets until the sun can be seen.