Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, HEAVEN, by MABEL CLELAND LUDLUM


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

HEAVEN, by                    
First Line: If I should die before you
Last Line: And this, my dear, will be heaven.
Subject(s): Heaven; Love; Paradise


If I should die before you
I would find Heaven
So incomplete without you
That good St. Peter
And my own particular Guardian Angel
(Who is doubtless looking forward
To a permanent vacation when I get to Heaven)
Will have a hard time
Holding on to the end of my new white robe
To keep me from toppling over the parapets
Looking for you --
And I guess they'll sigh and say:
"Goodness, I wish he'd hurry and come up
To this very silly girl."
And every time you do something
That might count against you,
They'll cross the fingers of the hand
That isn't holding on to me,
And pray and pray and pray!

Some lady angels, who when on earth
Were disappointed in love,
May say witheringly:
"What more can she want
Than the pearly gates and the streets of gold,
Not to mention her halo and the harp;
There's no satisfying some folks!"
But St. Peter and my Guardian Angel, being a saint and an angel
And therefore full of patience,
Will laugh in their beards and hang on to me. . . .
And when I see you coming up,
Up through the little white clouds and the silvery stars,
I shall fly to my house of jasper,
And powder my nose with star-dust,
And straighten my halo and tune up my harp,
And sit in the very frontest window I can find
Facing the street of gold.
And I shall pretend I have been nonchalantly sitting there
Ever since I came to Heaven.

And St. Peter and my Angel,
Will hitch up their robes,
Glad of a chance to rest,
And my Angel will say:
"Why doesn't she run and meet him
And tell him how much she's missed him?"
But St. Peter, being very wise and keeper of the portals of Heaven
Ever since there were portals,
Will wink his eye and say: "Give her time, boy, give her time!"

And I, having you with me,
Will recognize at last
The niceness of the houses of jasper and the streets of gold,
The becomingness of the halo and the pleasure of the harp.
Together we'll go shopping for yours,
And we'll learn to play duets on our harps
And a nice game like quoits with our halos.
Then we'll look up our best ancestors and friends.
And go calling on them in blue and gold taxi-stars.
And we'll thank God personally for giving us each other.
And this, my dear, will be Heaven.





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