The Entrance to Heaven

The entrance to heaven is not a pair of pearly gates
or a rostrum where Saint Peter bellows a list of your sins
in apoplectic ancient Aramaic.

The entrance to heaven is a large room like the meeting hall of a Masonic lodge,
but instead of furniture you don't quite understand
there are rows of work tables covered in clean white cloth.

Behind each table stands a group of old testament prophets
whose job it is to assess the value of your life.
They do this by emptying the contents of your mind onto the table top
the way you might dump out a carpenters bag
and watch tape measures and plumb bobs and lock washers go all over the place.

Being punishers, they make quick work of emperors and demagogues
but they are easily confused by poets.
I would love to see the look on Habakkuk or Jeremiah's face
when your stuff stops rolling around.