Line-up at the Pearly Gates

Trust Meghan to cut in, and Jim to jump the queue,
and Chloris to bring her Brobdingnagian purse,
with which to threaten, one surmises, the likes of a Meghan or Jim.
Pragmatic Eric brought a lunch, some fine post-perish planning there.
But who knew there’d be a line-up around the block —
and this ain’t no ordinary block, hell, it’s celestial.

So here we stand, as in life, a lost cluster of pale stars,
a bedraggle of bleaters mustered for shearing,
a sweetness of lambs, a bullying of rams,
a ravishment of ravens, a hauntment of swans,
all of us stained by the same Neverlandish light,
all of us looking left and right,
astonishingly naked,
holy, commensurate.

The talk coming down the whisper-wire
is that God h/erself is the hold-up.
Word has it the Petrine admin team
has been overly fastidious — and is being reviewed.

All through the procession there are wide-eyed ripples of excitement,
murmurations of maybes, some saying right out loud,
“Good God, perhaps we’ll all get in!”
And/but, there are undercurrents from the righteous-lifers,
and the hastily formed Committee for Piety preemtively
issues a statement:
“Grace, yes, but there’s got to be limits:
         Make heaven great again!”

The balkanization is automatic.
The column divides, and, as in life, strife, rife with resentment, reigns;
and the decision, regards destination, appears ready-made:
         sooner hunker in hell, than dine together in heaven.

11 Comments

  1. A south of the border parable while on this side of the border there are line ups waiting for mana from heaven in a wilderness of sludgy oil.
    Thank you for this red faced laugh out loud experience!

  2. So here we stand, as in life, a lost cluster of pale stars,
    a bedraggle of bleaters mustered for shearing,
    a sweetness of lambs, a bullying of rams,
    a ravishment of ravens, a hauntment of swans,
    all of us stained by the same Neverlandish light,
    all of us looking left and right,
    astonishingly naked,
    holy, commensurate.

    Just. Wow. Heavenly praise for your heavenly turn-of-phrase.

  3. So I share this with a family member living south of the border who said today that “the last several days have been exceedingly difficult as our country appears to be torn further and further apart”….and perhaps it will give a bit of perspective….
    And as always, the “heavenly turn-of-phrase”….thank you.

  4. Wow – your lampoon has several sharp points!
    I was struck, among other things, by the word “commensurate” … so we are: In my counselling work I meet believers and non-believers (you’ll understand the term). The “sins” the come with are strikingly commensurate!

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *