Afterlife
June 1 2009


Who knew
there was a hierarchy of angels.
Arrayed at the right hand of God,
all celestial harps
and beatific smiles,
they elbow and jostle like little girls
competing to be queen of the schoolyard.

The Seraphim, the Cherubim, the Thrones,
looking down their nose
at Powers and Principalities;
and the lowly Archangel
who hovers down near earth.

Even hell has its circles,
also 9.
Or so says Dante’s Inferno,
purgatory not included.

And in between, we work out our own
internal order,
unsure what is a need
a want
a desire;
which one burns inside,
and which will consume us whole.

Even skeptics and atheists
cannot decide.
Who are greedy for everything
in this brief secular life,
eviscerated of all its mystery.
Where death is final,
and relentless rationality rules.