WITHIN the kingdom of my soul I bid you enter, Love, to-day; Submit my life to your control, And give my Heart up to your sway. My Past, whose light and life is flown, Shall live through memory for you still; Take all my Present for your own, And mould my Future to your will. One only thought remains apart, And will forever so remain; There is one Chamber in my heart Where even you might knock in vain. A haunted Chamber: -- long ago I closed it, and I cast the key Where deep and bitter waters flow, Into a vast and silent sea. Dear, it is haunted. All the rest Is yours; but I have shut that door Forever now. 'Tis even best That I should enter it no more. No more. It is not well to stay With ghosts; their very look would scare Your joyous, loving smile away; -- So never try to enter there. Check, if you love me, all regret That this one thought remains apart: -- Now let us smile, dear, and forget The haunted Chamber in my Heart. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...BACCHUS by RALPH WALDO EMERSON TO AGE by WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR ABRAHAM LINCOLN WALKS AT MIDNIGHT by NICHOLAS VACHEL LINDSAY THE CRISIS by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER THE TREE by BJORNSTJERNE MARTINIUS BJORNSON |