Further, yet further, as I looked across the desert, I saw the sand gathered into heaps as though it covered something. I cried to God, “Oh, I am so weary.” God said, “You have seen only one half of Hell.” I said, “I cannot see more, I am afraid of Hell. In my own narrow little path I dare not walk because I think that one has dug a pitfall for me; and if I put my hand to take a fruit I draw it back again because I think it has been kissed already. If I look out across the plains, the mounds are burial heaps; and when I pass among the stones I hear them crying aloud. When I see men dancing I hear the time beaten in with sobs; and their wine is living! Oh, I cannot bear Hell!” God said, “Where will you go?” I said “To the earth from which I came; it was better there.” And God laughed at me; and I wondered why he laughed. God said, “Come, and I will show you Heaven.” ... And partly I awoke. It was still and dark; the sound of the carriages had died in the street; the woman who laughed was gone; and the policeman’s tread was heard no more. In the dark it seemed as if a great hand lay upon my heart, and crushed it. I tried to breathe and tossed from side to side; and then again I fell asleep, and dreamed. God took me to the edge of that world. It ended. I looked down. The gulf, it seemed to me, was fathomless, and then I saw two bridges crossing it that both sloped upwards. I said to God, “Is there no other way by which men cross it?” God said, “One; it rises far from here and slopes straight upwards.” I asked God what the bridges’ names were. God said, “What matter for the names? Call them the Good, the True, the Beautiful, if you will--you will yet not understand them.” I asked God how it was I could not see the third. God said, “It is seen only by those who climb it.” I said, “Do they all lead to one heaven?” God said, “All Heaven is one: nevertheless some parts are higher than others; those who reach the higher may always go down to rest in the lower; but those in the lower may not have strength to climb to the higher; nevertheless the light is all one.” And I saw over the bridge nearest me, which was wider than the other, countless footmarks go. I asked God why so many went over it. God said, “It slopes less deeply, and leads to the first heaven.” And I saw that some of the footmarks were of feet returning. I asked God how it was. He said, “No man who has once entered Heaven ever leaves it; but some, when they have gone half way, turn back, because they are afraid there is no land beyond.” I said, “Has none ever returned?” God said, “No; once in Heaven always in Heaven.” And God took me over. And when we came to one of the great doors--for Heaven has more doors than one, and they are all open--the posts rose up so high on either side I could not see the top, nor indeed if there were any. And it seemed to me so wide that all Hell could go in through it. I said to God, “Which is the larger, Heaven or Hell?”