Hell is wherever Love is not, and Heaven
Is Love’s location. No dogmatic creed,
No austere faith based on ignoble fear
Can lead thee into realms of joy and peace.
Unless the humblest creatures on the earth
Are bettered by thy loving sympathy
Think not to find a Paradise beyond.
There is no sudden entrance into Heaven.
Slow is the ascent by the path of Love.
UNDERSTOOD
I value more than I despise
My tendency to sin,
Because it helps me sympathise
With all my tempted kin.
He who has nothing in his soul
That links him to the sod,
Knows not that joy of self-control
Which lifts him up to God.
And I am glad my heart can say,
When others trip and fall
(Although I safely passed that way),
‘I understand it all.’
HIS MANSION
There was a thought he hid from all men’s eyes,
And by his prudent life and deeds of worth
He left a goodly record upon earth
As one both pure and wise.
But when he reached a dark unsightly door
Beyond the grave, there stood his secret thought.
It was the mansion he had built and brought
To dwell in, on that shore.