I do not wish to go to that cold region of stars about which you teach.

I only know this world and I find in it warm hearts and precious affection.

You say that this world is a phantom, unsubstantial, unreal, and that the only reality is above, in Heaven.

To me that Heaven appears but as an awful emptiness.

I shrink from it in terror, and like a child seek for consolation in human love.