Heaven and the Priest
Being present myself, my impetuous tongue
To silence I could not resign
When an order from God of admission on high
Came the way of that reverend divine;
I humbly addressed the Almighty: Oh Lord,
Excuse this presumption of mine,
But he’ll never relish the virgins of heaven,
The garden’s green borders, the wine!
For Paradise isn’t the place for a preacher
To meddle and muddle and mangle,
And he, pious man — second nature to him
Is the need to dispute and to jangle;
His business has been to set folk by the ears
And get nations and sects in a tangle:
Up there in the sky is no Mosque and no Church
And no Temple — with whom will he wrangle?
–Iqbal, Gabriel’s Wing
