Hitchins Visits Heaven

WHAT CAN BE ASSERTED WITHOUT PROOF CAN BE DISMISSED WITHOUT PROOF - Christopher Hitchins

Christopher Hitchins, author, essayist, journalist, and avowed atheist, died in December, 2011. Hitchins was the author of The Portable Atheist and God is Not Great. Of course, these are not the only things he wrote or did, but they are the ones that came to my mind when I heard he had died, as did the following:

Hitchins Visits Heaven

I wouldn't want to be him
on his deathbed,
or better even,
now he's passed along --
to wake and find himself
all dressed in white robes
and listening to those sweet
celestial songs.

I hear him ask, "And you, sir,
who might you be?"

I listen to the Voice
that gently tells,
"I, sir, am your maker;
you may call me
Yahway or whatever
else they tell."

"You don't exist! "I hear
old Hitchens cry out.

"And would you care
to touch Me?"
He responds.
"But that worked
only with young Thomas,
and still you doubt Me
even though you saw
that I had given
some on earth to love you
and some on earth
to help you on your way,
a world of beauty,
fame and wealth to keep you,
and you, sir, still,
you chose to lose your way.
Who do you say that I am,
Mr. Hitchens?
Before whom do you think
you stand this day?"

Hitchens said, "I call you
'Superstition'."

"Then, you, sir, I say,
take yourself away!
You shall dwell alone
forever lonely,
away from hope of solace
or of friend
to read your words or listen
to your musings --
alone and separated
in the end."

Hitchens drew himself up
to his full height.
He shook his head
and held his chin up high,
"I'd rather dwell in darkness
than acknowledge!
I choose my fate!"

In hubris, now he lies.