"Loop up the curtains, love! Let in the light!" The words came strong and sweet, as if the life From which they breathed were at its tidal flood. "Oh! blessed light!" she added, as the sun Flamed on the velvet roses of the floor, And touched to life the pictures on the wall, And smote the dusk with bars of amber. "Paul!" I turned to answer, and beheld a face That glowed with a celestial fire like his Who talked with God in Sinai. "Paul," she said. "I have been almost home. I may not tell, For language cannot paint, what I have seen. The veil was very thin, and I so near, I caught the sheen of multitudes, and heard Voices that called and answered from afar Through spaces inconceivable, and songs Whose harmonies responsive surged and sank On the attenuate air, till all my soul Was thrilled and filled with music, and I prayed To be let loose, that I might cast myself Upon the mighty tides, and give my life To the supernal raptures. Ay, I prayed That death might come, and give me my release From this poor clay, and that I might be born By its last travail into life." "Dear wife," I said, "You have been wildly dreaming, and your brain, Quickened to strange vagaries by disease, Has cheated you. You must not talk like this: 'Twill harm you. I will hold your hand awhile, And you shall have repose. She smiled and said, While her eyes shone with an unearthly light: "You are not wise, my dear, in things like these. The vision was as real as yourself; And it will not be long before I go To mingle in the life that I have seen. I know it, dearest, for she told me this." "She told you this?" I said,--"Who told you this? Did you hold converse with the multitude?" "Not with the multitude," she answered me; "But while I gazed upon the throng, and prayed That death might loose me, there appeared a group Of radiant ones behind the filmy veil That hung between us, looking helplessly Upon my struggle, but with eyes that beamed With love ineffable. I knew them too-- Knew all of them but one--and she the first And sweetest of them all. Pure as the light And beautiful as morning, she advanced; And, at her touch, the veil was parted wide, While she passed through, and stood beside my bed. She took my hand, she kissed my burning cheek, And then, in words that calmed my spirit, said: