I was thinking about this poem yesterday, when I was at a birthday picnic. Then I went to ‘pick up’ my wife from the pub. It’s her fault that this has gone up a day late. It’s a reworking of a short story I wrote as homework when studying the Handmaid’s Tale, about a religious state dealing with overpopulation, not underpopulation.
I wake up smiling, knowing it’s today!
The ceremony! Maybe I’ll be chosen!
It’s all we’ve talked about for weeks at school –
There’s 60 in my class, all of us hoping
To be selected, though the chance is small:
Only the holiest can go to heaven.
“Now children, who would like to go to heaven?”
Our teacher asks each year. “On Children’s Day
Jesus will call just 20. If you’re small,
And free of sin, perhaps you will be chosen
To sit beside His throne!” We’re faint with hoping
Can’t concentrate on anything at school
Of course, they try to threaten us at school
Tell us that lazy girls don’t go to heaven –
“Where is your science homework? If you’re hoping
To be a chosen one on Children’s Day
Then get your act together. To be chosen
Is such a privilege. Your chance is small.”
I want to get to heaven while I’m small
Grow up to be an angel. No more school!
Next year I’m seven, too old to be chosen
If I grow up, I might not get to heaven.
For grown-ups grow more sinful by the day
Today’s my only chance. I can’t stop hoping.
We sit in church, all dressed in white and hoping
The priest walks in. The knife he bears is small
But razor sharp. He’s serious today.
He’s always smiling when he comes to school
To tell us Jesus wants us up in heaven
He looks in each girl’s eyes. Who will be chosen?
I feel his hand upon my head. I’m chosen!
I’m bursting with delight. Those months of hoping
And being good paid off. I’m going to heaven!
We lucky ones can go there while we’re small.
He lifts the knife, just like we learned at school
We kneel and give our thanks on Children’s Day
I’ll go heaven, now that I’ve been chosen
Oh happy day! The end of all my hoping!
Die pure and small. That’s what they teach at school.
Tom Juniper Poetry 