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Old
Spookses’ Pass, Malcolm’s Katie and Other
Poems
by
Isabella Valancy Crawford
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THE
HIDDEN ROOM.
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I marvel if my heart,
Hath any room apart,
Built secretly its mystic walls within;
With subtly warded key
Ne’er yielded unto
me—
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5 |
Where
even I have surely never been.
Ah, surely I know all
The bright and cheerful
hall
With the fire ever red upon its hearth;
My friends dwell with me
there,
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10 |
Nor
comes the step of Care
To sadden down its music and its mirth. [Page
119]
Full well I know as mine
The little cloister’d
shrine
No foot but mine alone hath ever trod;
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15 |
There
come the shining wings—
The face of one who brings
The pray’rs of men before the throne of God.
And many know full well,
The busy, busy cell,
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20 |
Where
I toil at the work I have to do,
Nor is the portal fast,
Where stand phantoms of
the past,
Or grow the bitter plans of darksome rue.
I know the dainty spot
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25 |
(Ah,
who doth know it not?)
Where pure young Love his lily-cradle made;
And nestled some sweet springs
With lily-spangled wings—
Forget-me-nots upon his bier I laid.
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30 |
Yet marvel I, my soul,
Know I thy very whole,
Or dost thou hide a chamber still from me?
Is it built upon the wall?
Is it spacious? is it small?
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35 |
| Is
it God, or man, or I who holds the key? [Page
120] |
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