On Walking Along The Beach Of The Hell Poem by Ahmad Shiddiqi

O love! they have followed thee through the fire
and they find thee at last but a beach of shadow
the adventurous souls do not sell their desire
daily their own wishes they glow

they see not any road of perfect peace
which a man can meet a paradise
the soul is the keeper of trust
and to tell how long the will shall exist

cleansed by the elemental spell
those smaller sins, half converts to hell
see what we have overcome
see how lovely we faced thy Kingdom come

as far as we can recall these ecstasies
do we blench and withdraw on rude enemies?
the difference between us is not in wisdom
but in how we should be conscious of freedom

(with great admiration to Harriet Beecher Stowe's
Uncle Tom's Cabin)