IV. FROM * * *

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 for ever 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

For ever 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.