How I Walked Alone in the Jungles of Heaven
Oh, once I walked in Heaven, all aloneUpon the sacred cliffs above the sky.God and the angels, and the gleaming saintsHad journeyed out into the stars to die.
They had gone forth to win far citizens,Bought at great price, bring happiness for all:By such a harvest make a holier townAnd put new life within old Zion’s wall.
Each chose a far-off planet for his home,Speaking of love and mercy, truth and right,Envied and cursed, thorn-crowned and scourged in time,Each tasted death on his appointed night.
Then resurrection day from sphere to sphereSped on, with all the POWERS arisen again,While with them came in clouds recruited hostsOf sun-born strangers and of earth-born men.
And on that day gray prophet saints went downAnd poured atoning blood upon the deep,Till every warrior of old Hell flew freeAnd all the torture fires were laid asleep.
And Hell’s lost company I saw returnClear-eyed, with plumes of white, the demons boldClimbed with the angels now on Jacob’s stair,And built a better Zion than the old.
. . . . .
And yet I walked alone on azure cliffsA lifetime long, and loved each untrimmed vine:The rotted harps, the swords of rusted gold,The jungles of all Heaven then were mine.
Oh mesas and throne-mountains that I found!Oh strange and shaking thoughts that touched me there,Ere I beheld the bright returning wingsThat came to spoil my secret, silent lair!