The beautiful gates of Zion, The portals of love and delight, They call me, they beckon me to them, But shut are they day and night. Closed and silent and solemn, Shut, and no porter near; Still by their beauty they call me, And I cannot choose but hear. I cannot choose but approach them, Alone and wistful and slow, With no one to bid me welcome And show me the way to go. For no one can choose them for me, And no one but I can knock, And no one can handle for me The key in the golden lock. But lo! at the gentlest pressure, The least faint tap at the gate, Bright in the glow of morning Or at midnight drearily late. At the merest, timidest trial The gates are flung open wide, And oh! the glory of welcome One finds on the other side! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A LETTER FROM ITALY by JOSEPH ADDISON FRINGED GENTIANS by AMY LOWELL A DESCRIPTION OF A CITY SHOWER by JONATHAN SWIFT MAY MORNING by CELIA LEIGHTON THAXTER WITH MY FANCY by KONSTANTIN DMITRIYEVICH BALMONT THE ABANDONED by MATHILDE BLIND |