Earthborn Poem by David Welch

You'd think this was a poem of death,
since my death begins it, oddly enough,
though it all takes place in Heaven above,
after I'd gone to my eternal rest,
the weight of time and space now off my chest.
Remembered the hospital, then nothing,
until in a small town awakening,
amidst a green country, and rolling hills,
the air was sweet and fresh as my lungs filled,
quite confused as to what was happening.

The buildings were quaint, quite photogenic,
as if out of some nostalgic past age,
Like something seen on a storybook page,
set amidst verdant fields bucolic,
I suppose I should have felt some panic,
but instead there was just a quiet peace,
as if all my worries had been released.
I looked down and saw my body was young,
the wear of eighty-six years all undone,
as if all of the laws of nature had ceased.

As I got up, I saw people emerge,
looking curious as they came my way,
waited to hear what these figures might say,
and would I even understand their words?
Yet ever onwards these people did surge,
until one of them did say, "Who might you be? "
I just shrugged and said, "My name is Stanley.
Honestly, I don't know how I got here,
but I think I must be dead, it appears…
This whole thing just seems very strange to me."

Most of the people there just cocked their head,
looked at each other, wrapped in confusion,
like they didn't know just where to begin,
until a young woman asked, "What is ‘dead? '"
At first I didn't believe what she said,
Then a man in the front gave a great gasp,
cried, "Go find Philippe, and bring him hear fast!
I think this man might just be an earth-born,
I've never seen one appear here before!
And only Philippe is up to the task! "

I had no idea who this ‘Philippe' was,
or why they said ‘earth-born' like it was strange,
I could make no sense of this whole exchange,
why they all seemed so shocked by what they saw,
why they all looked at his with gaping jaws,
but somebody ran off, back through the town,
I moved to a bench where I could sit down,
the people just stood there, looked quite awe-struck
at little old me, a man of ill luck,
not exactly the type who'd been renowned.

If this was Heaven, it made little sense,
would not they get newcomers all the time?
How could this seem so bizarre to their mind?
Wouldn't this have to have happened to them?
I just sighed loud and shook my head again,
but at that time a red-headed man came,
folks parted for him, and cried out his name,
like he was some hero they looked up to,
I just looked at him, not sure what he'd do,
but I somehow sensed that we were the same.

"When they spoke the words, I didn't believe,
but here you are, good Lord, it's been so long,
I'd say eight decades have now come and gone,
since I showed up and they had to receive
an earth-born soul, they just couldn't conceive…
Took John here fifteen years to understand
that there could be another type of man,
so please, take my hand, and I will explain,
the truth of Heaven that boggles the brain,
but in the end is quite sublime and grand."

I wasn't sure what to make of this guy,
he seemed quite different then everyone else,
it was something in his eyes, I could tell.
In the other folks I could see no lies,
but in Philippe saw something I realized,
the hardness of a soul who had seen sin,
who had known evil, and fought it within,
a familiar look, one that I knew well,
I figured I should hear what he might tell,
so I stood and agreed to follow him.

He waved me over to a tavern small,
we paced towards it, the others close behind,
as if just seeing me shattered their minds,
most of them stopping outside the front wall,
nobody followed us inside at all.
Inside I saw a barkeep cleaning things,
not all that strange, except the man had wings,
an angel bartender…okay, why not?
Already Heaven was weirder than I thought,
Philippe cried, "Ras, you up for explaining? "

The angel turned, and his broad face lit up,
"Is that what I think it is? "he inquired.
I was uncertain what might transpire,
until Ras poured some beer, filled up a cup.
Said, "Up here, we only have the good stuff.
Forgive me, I'm rusty, it's been a bit
Since an earth-born came, and Philippe was it,
most of your kind are scattered ‘round elsewhere,
so many Heaven-born, your sort are rare,
but I can help you make sense of all this."

We sat at the bar, and the beer was cold,
much better than any that I had drunk,
compared to this, all of Earth's beer was junk,
and up here it seemed things weren't bought or sold,
"Money ain't nothing up here, "I was told.
"Now I'm betting this all doesn't seem right, "
said Ras as he settled down in their sight,
"You know all those people who gawked and stared?
They've never seen Earth, they've never been there.
They're never had to work, struggle, or fight.

"They've never known death, see, they were born here,
descendants of people just like yourself,
who died on Earth, and escaped chains of hell,
and like all righteous in Heaven appeared,
but, you see, that's where things get kind of weird.
People love on Earth, in Heaven more so,
this is paradise, that's just how things go.
The result of that, those people outside,
who've never felt pain the whole of their lives,
just the thought of it impossible to know.

"And of course those folks have kids of their own,
until they outnumbered their earth-born kin,
just one-in-a-million here have felt sin,
trials and tribulations are unknown,
more innocent generations are sown.
So folks like you, I'm afraid you stand out,
you've known things they've only wondered about,
ain't in the bible, but that's how it works,
most of God's children have never know hurt,
immortal lives they live, free of all doubt."

With that he finished, poured me another,
I tried to make sense of all Ras explained,
and the implications did wrack my brain,
to know that here I would be ‘the other, '
that they'd never known hardship or bother.
How did one relate to those born in bliss,
who'd never tasted blood, heard a snake's hiss?
When tribulation made you what you were,
when you had been molded by brutal Earth,
how did a sheltered soul make sense of this?

And deeper thoughts were churning in my gut,
I looked at Ras who stood smiling,
then said, "How is it God could do this thing?
To give some all, an to let others rot?
What did earth-born do to deserve their lot?
Did we not crave Eden, a better life,
did we not wish to escape all the strife?
Why should we have to feel trouble and pain?
Why did we face it again and again?
When they faced nothing…it just isn't right! "

I didn't know what I expected then,
was I ungrateful to say such a thing
here in Heaven, the grand home of the King?
Instead a knowing look came to both men,
Philippe took a breath, and then said, "My friend,
I had just such thoughts, back when I had died,
like you I wondered, was it all a lie?
But I say there are real advantages
to those who learned from the Tree of Knowledge,
that Heaven-born will always be denied.

"They never will really comprehend good,
to them goodness is just the way things are,
they've never known evil, or felt its scars,
they can't appreciate things as they should,
it never really will be understood.
They cannot value choosing to do right,
it's not something they've ever faced in life,
in a real way, they are somewhat like kids,
not because of anything that they did,
but with no darkness, who can love the light?

"They know paradise, but do ask yourself
does God himself know that evil exists?
And like you does he not know that it persists?
That unopposed it can drag you to hell?
And did we not choose to fight it as well?
He declares we were made in his likeness,
but the Heaven-born are denied all this,
they cannot know God the way that we do,
because like Him, we are able to choose,
we are able to take up His great test.

"That would be His gift to people like us,
to understand evil's force too fully,
to chose to defy it, unbound and free,
to see the sense in all His holy laws,
and like Him, to freely take up the cause.
They know no pain, they have been spared the rod,
which is why we remain closer to God,
the price paid for never facing the sword
is not comprehending God's true rewards,
we've made journeys that they can never trod."

At this Ras just shrugged, "He says it better,
But when He comes around, we never know.
For now I think it is time that we go
To your cottage out there on the heather.
Your wife's already there, go and get her."
In all of this time I had not conceived
that my late wife was here, waiting patiently,
and to find her their… like me, young again…
we may have created some Heaven-born then,
I guess that was just how things had to be.