I wonder what Milton writes in heav’n, and if he’s happy there
With all eternity to draft, in hope and in despair
(For you can’t change your mind in heaven, if Sartre’s words are true
And what you are is what you were and never something new)
Imperishable epic themes, as angel voices swell.
I wonder, can he find the words, and is it heaven or hell?
Oh heaven to see, but hell to know, or maybe merely odd
To justify, for all of time, the ways of man to God.
15th January, 1998
