She did not know that she was dead
But,
when the pang was o'er,
Sat down to wait her Master's tread
Upon the
Golden Floor,
With ears full-cock and anxious eyes,
Impatiently
resigned;
But ignorant that Paradise
Did not admit her kind.
There was one step along the Stair
That led to Heaven's Gate;
And,
till she heard it, her affair
Was --- she explained --- to wait.
And
she explained with flattened ear,
Bared lip and milky tooth ---
Storming against Ithuriel's Spear
That only proved her truth!
Sudden
--- far down the Bridge of Ghosts
That anxious spirits clomb ---
She
caught that step in all the hosts,
And knew that he had come.
She
left them wondering what to do,
But not a doubt had she.
Swifter than
her own squeal she flew
Across the Glassy Sea;
Flushing the Cherubs
everywhere,
And skidding as she ran,
She refuged under Peter's Chair
And waited for her man.
* * * * * * *
There spoke a Spirit out of
the press,
'Said: --- "Have you any here
That saved a fool from
drunkenness,
And a coward from his fear?
That turned a soul from
dark to day
When other help was vain;
That snatched it from Wanhope
and made
A cur a man again?"
"Enter and look," said Peter then,
And set the Gate ajar.
"If I know aught of women and men
I trow she is
not far."
"Neither by virtue, speech nor art
Nor hope of grace to
win;
But godless innocence of heart
That never heard of sin:
Neither by beauty nor belief
Nor white example shown.
Something a
wanton --- more a thief ---
But --- most of all --- mine own."
"Enter and look," said Peter then,
"And send you well to speed;
But,
for all that I know of women and men
Your riddle is hard to read."
Then flew Dinah from under the Chair,
Into his arms she flew ---
And
licked his face from chin to hair
And Peter passed them through!