This is, obviously, a metaphor. What I personally believe about the Judgment and the afterlife is that my mortal brain is not able to imagine it. All I can imagine are mortal ideals of what is good, and right, and beautiful in this life, and try to keep as close as I can to those. Many people do not enjoy the company of people who try to be and do good. Therefore...
I dreamed a wicked man was raised
to Heaven--Kindness' self be praised!
Toward righteous men his course he set,
and heard them speak: "How every debt
we owed on Earth was paid before
we came here, is our topic for
this evening..." "Errr...if you don't mind,
some other company I'll find,"
he said, and turned toward some youth.
"How one can always tell the truth..."
When resurrection changed his heart
renew'd was every other part,
and so the conscience he had seared
in its full strength had reappeared.
"Perhaps rough veterans may be
good company for the likes of me,"
he said; approaching, heard one say:
"I was too scared to run away!"
He recognized the face of one
he'd left behind him as he'd run.
"With those old grey heads I may find
no memories to grieve my mind."
He heard one ancient say to another,
"May I present my great-grandmother,
who I now wish could have relied
on me for help, before she died,
though I now see she has the grace
of sight and strength, healed, in this place."
He seemed to hear a voice sigh low,
"The door, at least, lock when you go."
The door swung open wide as he
rushed out, from pity to run free.
He turned again. Children at play
he sought as goal of getaway.
"My Daddy loves me, I can tell.
He shows me how to do things well!"
one squeaked, as once again our man
rethought his latest action plan,
looked upward, and the truth did tell:
"I'd fit in better down in Hell.
Was I 'once saved, and always saved,'
when my whole life was so depraved?"
The Comforter to him drew near
and murmured softly in his ear:
"Once saved, and always saved, indeed,
were some who thought that love might need
to save souls even such as you.
What you did here's preserved to view
by those who may ask where you are.
You may go down, now, and go far!"
He moved a pebble, showed a hole.
Into it dived the guilty soul,
and as he sank, they heard him yell,
"Land of eternal shame, farewell!
Perpetual rest among the good,
I wish I'd sooner understood,
is only torment, now, to me.
O flames! can ever I be free?"
Into the flames now disappearing,
he left the Blest no longer hearing
his voice mar Heaven's harmony.
Then one struck up a melody:
"Praise to the Mercy ever sure,
Reserving Heaven for the pure!"
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