The Inner Room Poem : Songs of Action Poetry by Arthur Conan Doyle
The Inner Room Poem
by
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Inner Room Poem
It is mine—the little chamber,
Mine alone.
I had it from my forbears
Years agone.
Yet within its walls I see
A most motley company,
And they one and all claim me
As their own.
There’s one who is a soldier
Bluff and keen;
Single-minded, heavy-fisted,
Rude of mien.
He would gain a purse or stake it,
He would win a heart or break it,
He would give a life or take it,
Conscience-clean.
And near him is a priest
Still schism-whole;
He loves the censer-reek
And organ-roll.
He has leanings to the mystic,
Sacramental, eucharistic;
And dim yearnings altruistic
Thrill his soul.
There’s another who with doubts
Is overcast;
I think him younger brother
To the last.
Walking wary stride by stride,
Peering forwards anxious-eyed,
Since he learned to doubt his guide
In the past.
And ‘mid them all, alert,
But somewhat cowed,
There sits a stark-faced fellow,
Beetle-browed,
Whose black soul shrinks away
From a lawyer-ridden day,
And has thoughts he dare not say
Half avowed.
There are others who are sitting,
Grim as doom,
In the dim ill-boding shadow
Of my room.
Darkling figures, stern or quaint,
Now a savage, now a saint,
Showing fitfully and faint
Through the gloom.
And those shadows are so dense,
There may be
Many—very many—more
Than I see.
They are sitting day and night
Soldier, rogue, and anchorite;
And they wrangle and they fight
Over me.
If the stark-faced fellow win,
All is o’er!
If the priest should gain his will
I doubt no more!
But if each shall have his day,
I shall swing and I shall sway
In the same old weary way
As before.
Songs of Action Poetry
The Song of the Bow Poem
Cremona Poem
The Storming Party Poem
The Frontier Line Poem
Corporal Dick’s Promotion Poem
A Forgotten Tale Poem
Pennarby Mine Poem
A Rover Chanty Poem
A Ballad of the Ranks Poem
A Lay of the Links Poem
The Dying Whip Poem
Master Poem
H.M.S. ‘Foudroyant’ Poem
The Farnshire Cup Poem
The Groom’s Story Poem
With the Chiddingfolds Poem
A Hunting Morning Poem
The Old Gray Fox Poem
‘Ware Holes! Poem
The Home-Coming of the Eurydice Poem
The Inner Room Poem
The Irish Colonel Poem
The Blind Archer Poem
A Parable Poem
A Tragedy Poem
The Passing Poem
The Franklin’s Maid Poem
The Old Huntsman Poem
