Leaning over his ancient picket fence
Hiking stick relaxed,
“Where’s heaven?” I asked the old fella?
“Jess round the next bend,” he motioned
Corn pipe in his mouth
Wooden-porch-rocking
Under the oak shaded
Mid-noon sweltering tin roof day
Pointing a well-aged finger younder.
"Right here sez other Feller!"
Enthusiasticly
Slapping his knee.
“Look no further, Feller.”
“Down in the holler
Where the hogs root
Heaven ‘ulls been right there,”
Piped up nuther feller
“Nope!” Chimes in a forth Feller
”Heaven’s down at thu hardware store.
Been there by the pickle barrel
Long’s I can ’member.”
“Naw. Heaven’s up along
The Appalachian Trail
Atop Old Max Patch in October
Where old friends meet.”
“HEAVEN’S SAKE, GENTLEMEN"
A voice outta nowhere booms in,
Fills the whole holler
“Heaven’s staring y’all in the face, gents.
“Trust me. Heaven, like nun other place,
Is a different from thuthers
a damn good place!”
Jest then,
Man with the donkey-pulled hay wagon
Shows up outta no-a-where’s
Offered me a lift
“Sir, you-un don’t look like you a gonna make it
On your own
Give you a lift. Hop on.
Was a heading that-a-way myself,”
That place called heaven,
Hain’t that fer off
So-ins Iffen ya plan to git thar
Might’s wanna start now on the road
“The road?”
Yep. The road ta heaven
Twists and winds up, down and around
Eventually uell get thar
Stay on the neat and narrow
Heaven knows
It’s worth it.
“Thar’s heaven. Thar tis!
Jess up ahead.
Told ja.”
“Nice ain’t it?”
”Yep ‘tis.”
tom tenbrunsel
Carl Sandburg Writer 2023
Author’s Note: Heaven’s been on my mind ever since I can remember. Daunting! Not a day goes by I don’t give it some thought and a prayer. Thought with no conclusion. Pray and hope it’s no illusion. Kinda like, “What’s on the other side of the universe.” So’s I figured I’d put it to verse, Sandburg style - he never rhymed a verse. “No reason.” I place my poetic fringe thoughts of heaven smack dab in the Southern Appalachians, which if you think of it, like so many places on earth, resemble my thoughts on heaven. Guess the Maker planned it that way? Don’t know. Hope to find out. What you think of Heaven? give me a shout out!
That’s very nicely put. It shouldn’t be that hard to find since the universe is only 94 billon Lightyears in diameter. I think if you walk to the Garden of Eden and take a left it will be right there. Rot thar! Ed Flynn