between two angels...

there stood in a garden, a child sweet and fair,
watching some fruit hat hang ripening there.
two anxious angels were watching above:
one gazing in hatred, the other in love:
one clothed in black, the other in white.

the child never dreamed that the angels were there.
he just longed for the fruit so rich and so rare.
how i should like that big apple so red,
but forget what my dear mother said,
that doing the things i'm forbidden to do
would make me unhappy and grieve her heart, too.

"take it," the dark angel whispered, "and eat it.
it is not very often you get such a treat.
there is no one to see you and no one to tell."
so up went a hand, it could reach the fruit well.

but the child paused a moment and said as he smiled,
"i'll not be a thief, i'll be a go0d child."
the rustling sound stirred the soft summer air.
one angel was gone but the other was still there.

the angel of darkness had taken its flight.
the child was alone with the angel of light.
in this little story we plainly can see,
an everyday lesson for you and for me:
we can conquer temptations - the angel of night,
if we listen to conscience - the angel of light.

[a story from the goddess of love]