If it should be my good fortune
To be invited to live there forever,
I hope there’s learning in Heaven.

I hope they don’t just grant me
All understanding in a moment,
But that I’m allowed to keep on learning.

I hope I get to ask questions
And have long talks,
And interview the authors
About what they wrote―
And God of course, and Jesus,
Though it’s hard to imagine
Being face to face with them,
Never having had that experience,
And having had to get at them
Indirectly, through what could be
Learned from the writings.

And I hope there’s still something left
To become once I’m there.
I hope I still get to seek God
And to grow in my understanding.

It’s hard to imagine a sudden
Download of knowledge and wisdom―
Though I can suppose that this may be
How it works there―
But the discovery that I do here
In this beautiful-ugly world
Is one of the greatest pleasures
In my life, and I think I would be content
If that part of my existence could
Go on forever, even in that second world,
To which I’d like to be invited.

Even if everyone else there were granted
A sudden understanding, I can wonder
While reveling in my current ignorance, if
They would grant me latitude to
Learn it all by investigation, at my own pace.

That’s my current imagination
Of what Paradise would be―
Were it left up to my imagination.

And if it proves to be something
Even better than that,
Well, then, so be it.

I said this years ago:
“No matter what you think about God,
He’s better than that.”

And if this same thing should be true
Of one’s experience in his Heaven,
I can surely be happy with that.