HEAVEN AND HELL

While forced to dwell apart from thy dear face,

Love, robed like sorrow, led me by the hand

And taught my doubting heart to understand

That which has puzzled all the human race.

Full many a sage has questioned where in space

Those counter worlds were? where the mystic strand

That separates them? I have found each land,

And Hell is vast, and Heaven a narrow space.

In the small compass of thy clasping arms,

In reach and sight of thy dear lips and eyes,

There, there for me the joy of Heaven lies.

Outside, lo! chaos, terrors’ wild alarms,

And all the desolation fierce and fell

Of void and aching nothingness, makes Hell.