A man and his dog were walking along a lane.
Both
enjoying the scenery and the terrain,
When
suddenly a thought pooped into his
And
he realized that he was actually dead.
He
vaguely remembered his passing away
And
that his dog had been dead many a day
He
wondered then where the road was leading
In
the distance along the way they were proceeding
He
viewed a high white wall along the road side
It
looked like fine marble and was many miles wide
It
followed the lane up to the top of a long hill
He
noticed a tall arch with a golden infill
That
glowed in the sunlight bright and bold
When
he got closer, he could see it was gold
He
thought it must lead to a great estate
Inside
the golden arch was a magnificent gate
The
gate was covered it the most lavish swirls
Made
up of what appeared to mother-of-pearl
And
the driveway that led up towards its splendour
Was
lavishly paved with solid gold paviours
He and
the dog walked quickly toward the gate
As
he got closer, he saw a man through the grate
When
he got closer he called out, “Excuse me”
And
as he reached the gate he asked “where are we?”
The
man smiled and answered “This is Heaven, sir,”
“Really
that’s fantastic could I get a drink of water?”
“Of
course, Come in I'll get some iced water for you”
The
gate began to open “Can my dog come in, too?”
“I'm
sorry but we don't allow pets.” The man said
“I
won’t come in then we’ll try elsewhere instead”
He
and his dog went back to the road and walked on
The
road went up hill and was very very long
They
came to a dirt road leading through a farm gate
This
looked like it had never been closed of late
There
were no fences surrounding the property
He
saw a man reading a book leaning against a tree
“Excuse
me!” he called “Do you have any water?”
“Of
course, come on in there's a pump over there,”
Gesturing
to his dog he said, “How about my friend?”
“There
should be a bowl by the pump for your friend”
They
went in and there was an old hand pump
With
a bowl beside it for his four-legged chum
The
traveler filled the water bowl for the dog
And
took a long drink himself as he sat on a log
They
drank their fill and walked back to the man
Who
was standing by the gate where they began
The
traveller asked “What do you call this place?”
“This
is Heaven,” he answered a smile on his face
“Well,
that's confusing,” the traveller said to the man
“Another
man down the road said that was Heaven”
“Do
you mean the place with the golden street,
The
pearly gates and everywhere perfectly neat?”
“Yes,
that’s the very place” replied the traveller
“No
that was hell, and the man was not Saint Peter”
“Doesn't
it make you really angry” the traveller said
When
they use your name and people go there instead?”
“No,
we're just happy they screen out the dross
Who’d
leave their best friends and not feel the loss”
