Hell’s Doorstep

by Ellen Doreen Loegering

 

I’ve been on the doorstep of hell,

For years ‘twas a place I would dwell,

Hidden from life

But not ready quite,

To step up and ring the “Great Bell.”

 

I would sit on the doorstep and wish,

That I mightn’t go into that mist,

There was so much to fear

Pain and sorrow so near,

Voices cursing the lives they had missed.

 

As I watched every story unfold,

A new thought began to take hold,

People seem to relive

What they could not forgive,

Satan’s laughter was quick, rich, and bold.

 

There were Mothers with sad, empty arms,

And Fathers still causing much harm,

Children running from fright

Still afraid of the night,

And Monsters that caused great alarm.

 

There were soldiers reliving the war,

Their stories unfold as before

O’er and o’er again

And still no good end,

It’s so hard to shut that “Great Door.”

 

 When the day of my journey had come,

I emerged from the “Sea Of The Numb,”

With a lesson so clear

We are bound by our fear,

And our thoughts will be our total sum.

 

So it was that I never went in,

To relive it all over again,

To forgive and forget

Without fear or regret,

Is to triumph o’er Satan’s Great Sin.

 

And I’ll never go there again,

 This I tell you clearly my friend,

There is no stronger link

Hell is just what you think,

And I think we should think a new end!

                                                                                                LN  5-12-98