At Eden Gates

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Title:     At Eden Gates
Author: Alfred Noyes [More Titles by Noyes]

To Eden Garden--so the sign-post said;
I could not see the road;
But, where the Sussex clover blossomed red
Its runaway blisses flowed.

I traced them back for many a night and day,
--The way she, too, had gone!--
Till lo, the terrible Angel in the way
Inexorably shone.

Up to the Gates, a fearless fool I came;
Between the lily and rose
Fluttering these evil rags of sordid shame,
A thing to scare the crows.

"And hath the Master given thee, then, no word?"
The scornful Angel smiled:
Only two souls may pass my Flaming Sword,--
The Lover and the Child.

I raised my head,--"Now let all hell make mirth,
Where Love went, I go, too!"
His eyes met mine. The sword sank to the earth,
And let her lover through.

[The end]
Alfred Noyes's poem: At Eden Gates

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