In Between Poem by Lonnie Hicks

I walked through Heaven's Gates
and St. Peter did not recognize me;

I had not sinned enough to warrant
detection.

I walked through checkpoint after checkpoint
unseen
bathed in light
but opaque
more presence than me,
consumed with curiosity about what lay beyond;
beyond Heavens Gate.

There were lights and sprites, visions and presences
protuberances and quivering entities
all there and not there
around me
but none spoke to me.

Is God's domain heavenly
or a way-point to Limbo,
Hell's Vestibule
or Sacred Angel Space?

The light weakened my eyes
until I could only hear voices
but could not see;

I groped lost,
listening,
hearing
until
I felt the force of transport,

and suddenly
I was hovering above
an edifice
being floated inside
where I materialized
before a still brighter light
which contained the face of
what I thought must be God.

It was too much for me,
my mind blanked
I could not think
beyond a steady rising euphoria;
bodiless
and ether-like
I rose on a soft breeze
quivering in my soul
gradually landing
back on my bed;
my body
remembering
he who touched me
without touching me
who moved his hand
over me
returned my heart to me.

And now,
I lay prone
shaking
feeling the weight of me
on the bed
discharged from the dream;
abandoned
to reality
Not ready for heaven,
not sinful enough for Hell;

still here on earth
unreconciled,
to the In-Between.