If God in his almighty Power <br />Called me to heaven when I died <br />And I was asked, at Heaven's gate, <br />What I should choose to take inside, <br /> <br />I should not want, in paradise, <br />A boring girl of honest worth. <br />I'd take with me the very same <br />With whom I'd shared this sinful earth: <br /> <br />The wild and wilful one, the one <br />Who gives me (for a time) her love, <br />She who tormented me below <br />Would keep me from ennui above. <br /> <br />There must be very few who'd take <br />Such desperate souls to share their bliss. <br />The saints would cast a furtive glance <br />And say 'Has Heaven come to this?' <br /> <br />I'd take with me the distances - <br />The agony of separation, <br />To call to mind when we're apart <br />The way you kissed me at the station. <br /> <br />I'd have to take the dangers too, <br />To keep you anxious, true and wise, <br />So that no coward should enjoy <br />The liquid brilliance of your eyes. <br /> <br />I'd take to heaven a faithful friend <br />To drink a toast when all is well. <br />And I should take the enemy <br />To fight with at the gates of hell. <br /> <br />Love and boredom and pity I'd take, <br />Even the nightingale in the wood - <br />Every tiny fraction of life <br />We live on earth, I'd take - if I could. <br /> <br />Even death, if that could be, <br />I should not leave behind below. <br />All that is here our lot on earth <br />I'd choose to take with me - and so <br /> <br />God, in astonishment, would curse <br />The worldly loyalties of men, <br />And very soon, without a doubt, <br />Would put me back on earth again.<br /><br />Konstantin Mikhailovich Simonov<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/if-god-in-his-almighty-power/
