662 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Over the jewelled floor, nigh weeping, ran to them Mary the
Mother, Kneeled and caressed and made promise with kisses, and
drew them along to the gateway Yea, the all-iron unbribeable Door which Peter must guard
and none other. Straightway She took the Keys from his keeping, and opened
and freed them straightway.
Then, to Her Son, Who had seen and smiled, She said: "On
the night that I bore Thee, What didst Thou care for a love beyond mine or a heaven
that was not my arm ? Didst Thou push from the nipple, O Child, to hear the angels
adore Thee ? When we two lay in the breath of the kine ? " And He said :
"Thou hast done no harm."
So through the Void the Children ran homeward merrily hand in hand,
Looking neither to left nor right where the breathless Heav- ens stood still.
And the Guards of the Void resheathed their swords, for they heard the Command:
"Shall I that have suffered the Children to come to Me hold them against their will ? "
MERROW DOWN
I
SPHERE runs a road by Merrow Down-
A grassy track to-day it is An hour out of Guildford town,
Above the river Wey it is.