Back to Index

One need not be a chamber to be haunted

by Emily Dickinson, 1891

One need not be a chamber to be haunted,
One need not be a house;
The brain has corridors surpassing
Material place.

Far safer, of a midnight meeting
External ghost,
Than an interior confronting
That whiter host.

Far safer through an Abbey gallop,
The stones achase,
Than, moonless, one's own self encounter
In lonesome place.

Ourself, behind ourself concealed,
Should startle most;
Assassin, hid in our apartment,
Be horror's least.

The prudent carries a revolver,
He bolts the door,
O'erlooking a superior spectre
More near.

Published in Poems by Emily Dickinson: Second Series
Tags:

Any corrections or public domain poems I should have here? Email me at poems (at) this domain.