The eternal entrance into Eden <br />Is not locked with seven precious seals; <br />It has no charms nor light of heaven, <br />And the people don't know that it is. <br /> <br />It's a doorway in a wall forgotten -- <br />Stones, moss and nothing more else, <br />Near stands a beggar; and the rotten, <br />Keys are hanging at his gaudy waist. <br /> <br />Paladins ride by in agitation, <br />Trumpets wail, and minted silver chant; <br />Nobody spares his attention <br />To the Peter -- the Apostle, the saint. <br /> <br />They dream: There, by Sepulchre of Savor, <br />Paradise will open doors for us; <br />At the footing of the Mount Thabor <br />The committed hour will thrust. <br /> <br />So by the armored monster goes; <br />In the air the trumpets ring and wail; <br />The Apostle in the tattered cloth, <br />Like a beggar, looks and poor and pale.<br /><br />Nikolai Stepanovich Gumilev<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-gates-of-paradise/
