Suddenly,

Suddenly,

From nowhere,

I wondered

If there actually was an Elysium

And yes, of course, that would mean

There would have to be a Hades

I know,

As if there was any logic to

This line of thinking,

Where would all the animals go?

Surely dog lovers

Would want to be reunited

With their family pet for the rest of eternity

Wouldn’t they?

If you believe in Karma then I guess

Every living creature has a soul

Which amounts to a lot of souls

There are trillions of ants

Perhaps it is different for collectives,

Other planets

Alternate universes,

(To float another theory).

But if there was an afterlife

How would it be organised?

Freedom of expression

Might well create heavenly chaos

Without a policy of adherence

Would all souls be treated equally?

Without establishing a false narrative

Or confusing philosophical debate

For a discourse on religion,

Or study in theology

But knowing the nature of things,

Wouldn’t some humans believe

Themselves to be more deserving?

Which suggests less a nirvana

And more of a hierarchical tyranny

Who would decide

Without resorting to the nature of godliness

And how that might present

In a real word setting

There must be a ministry of weights and measures

A labyrinthine nightmare

Worthy of Kafka,

An endless bureaucracy

A never-ending need to maintain balance

Unless, in death, we are suddenly re-acquainted

With the notion of collective responsibility

Forgotten at birth.

What happens to those who learned to disavow

The principle of ‘social’ conscience?

Suddenly,

From out of nowhere

As if there really was a heaven,

Would it actually be a socialist republic?

How wonderfully ironic

To suddenly bump into Marx

In conversation with Gandhi

And Adam Smith

An unholy trinity,

Equally divine but different.