Get out the microscope, because we’re going through this poem line-by-line.
Lines 37-42
Around her, lovers, newly met
'Mid deathless love's acclaims,
Spoke evermore among themselves
Their heart-remember'd names;
And the souls mounting up to God
Went by her like thin flames.
- We go from a description of God's house to more details about who can be found there.
- Specifically, it looks like lovers are getting together here. Since this is in heaven, it's as though they're "newly met." The idea is that they were together back on Earth, but are now reunited here in God's house.
- These folks are enjoying good times. Their love is "deathless," after all, and they give each other compliments, or "acclaims" (38). They also speak to one another in "Their heart-remember'd names" (40), which you can imagine to be names they would have used back on Earth. We're going to guess something like "Poopsiekins" or "Snugglebunny."
- Of course, there is a certain blessed someone that's left out of these reunions. The damozel is passed by as these lovers' souls float up to God—like, via another simile, "thin flames" that rise through the air. Meanwhile, she's left alone on that balcony, looking back down to Earth.
- This is getting really sad.