Imagination's Door

I know a secret place in my room

In the house at the end of the street;

A place of hope or epic doom

Where lions and centaurs meet.

I know a secret door near my bed.

It's one of many I own.

Doors of all colors and shapes in my head,

One green as emerald, one shaped like stone.

There's a magical world inside my room

In the house at the end of the street.

Like tapestries woven on a fairy loom

Are tales spun of love and defeat.

One door leads me to hot, desert nights,

One door to wolves in the snow.

One door opens to whimsical flights

With magical beans that grow.

Oh, the marvelous worlds and creatures I've seen

From my room in the house at the end of the street!

From Solomon's mines to a Narnian queen

To naiads near meadows of wheat.

I've met pirates and men of low reputations

And Dickensian children whose spirits were weary.

I've been lost on the moors and exiled from nations.

I've known red-haired orphans decidedly cheery.

I've teased and joked and sweated fears

With each and every friend.

At times, we laughed our way through tears

Or thought our hearts would never mend.

I know a secret door in my room

In the house at the end of the street;

A door to hope dispelling all gloom

and adventures I can't wait to meet.

(Author's note: By the way, I alluded to at least 15 different stories in this rhyme. Can you guess which tales I meant?  Which stories do you think of?)