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HAUNTED CHAMBERS, by                    
First Line: In the old and ruined mansion
Last Line: Are forever more at rest
Subject(s): Haunted Houses;memory


IN the old and ruined mansion
Where no joyous voices call,
And the gloomy shadows linger
Like a solemn funeral pall;
In some dim deserted passage
Into ruin falling fast,
Aye, they say, the chamber's haunted
With the spirits of the past.

When the shades of night have gathered,
There with deep, majestic gloom
Are these chambers clothed, while spectres
Gather hither from the tomb.
Not with loud, unhallowed sounding,
Not with vain, unanswered call,
Are they gathered, but in silence, --
Mystic, mournful silence all.

Forms that once were bright with being,
Faces wan that once were fair,
Sadly come amid the silence
That at midnight reigneth there.
There they love to linger lightly
Till the stars have ceased to glow, --
Linger lonely in the places
That were joyous "long ago."

There are chambers, haunted chambers,
Which we each may call our own,
Where are present forms and faces
That in other days were known.
In the silence of the midnight
We, from busy life apart,
Glance in sadness and in sorrow
At the chambers of the heart.

Ah, what forms are these to haunt us
When alone with thought at night!
Ah, what faces look upon us
That we deemed were lost to sight!
Some are bright as when we knew them,
Others wan and filled with woe;
All awake the thoughts that slumbered
Of the days of "long ago."

Ah, the haunted, haunted chambers
Of the weary human heart;
They are filled with mournful visions
That can nevermore depart
Till that heart has ceased its throbbing
In the sorrow-laden breast,
And the visions of the vanished
Are forevermore at rest.





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