Le Canari Dans La Mine De Charbon Poem by Herbert Nehrlich

As I came to the bend somewhat anxious and late
I could make out the glow of the great Pearly Gate.
It was God who was checking the records and books
to make certain that swine and cantankerate crooks
would be sent to the lift and then taken below
there to watch and to sweat in the hellfire show.
I had moved to the front and it now was my turn,
reminiscing I wondered would they send me to burn.

Then he spoke in a gentle, somewhat harpsichord voice
it is you, please be welcome, I remember the choice
that you pondered for ages only then to decide
who would serve as your father and spiritual guide.
Then he switched, like a teacher, to the great gallic tongue
made me sit back in school with my comrades, all young.
And I watched as his thumb pointed up and away
and I knew that it meant I was chosen to stay.
Came an angel of charm in a see through chiffon
J'étais le canari dans la mine de charbon.