He pushed the cup around the counter.

‘Of course I like my life,’
he told the tabletop.
His grave eyes narrowed,
imploring me to stop.

He never smiled with all his face.

Opened up his law-books
and recited every word.
I put to him a question,
my zeal yet undeterred.

‘Don’t we all want something better?’

‘On this flawed bit of earth,
in this bit of human mire,
isn’t everything we do
motivated by desire?

‘A higher realm, a holier place…

‘Some medieval men
saw the universe in spheres
that ground out divine sounds
too perfect for our ears.

‘No one said that heaven was here.’

He shrugged and shook his head.
I knew my point was lost.
Deep dissatisfaction comes
from a chasm never crossed.

He never thought that heaven was here.