Buddhist Hell Ii Poem by Morgan Michaels

Listen, now. There's a Hell
For killing (includes mosquitoes)
A Hell for thieving (not for me!)
A Hell for sexual deviants
A Hell for liars (excludes tactful omissions)
A Hell for drunks;

Oh, and here's something-
A Hell for those holding wrong opinions-
Be careful what you say, though-
It lasts ten-thousand years and burns like-well, Hell;
And a Hell for murderers lasting a whole kalpa-
Don't even ask what that is.

You may return as a marmot,
A coyote, a rat, an eel, or a snake, take your pick,
And for sundry misdeeds
Be crushed, impaled, boiled, quartered, sawn:
A sort of pre-Wolfenden existence-
So count your pebbles carefully, and choose.

Oh, I am more than sure
There are fearful souls whose hearts quake
At the least allegation of wrong-doing:
Who never swear, drink, lust, litter the gutter
With offal, lie at all,
Yet deem themselves lost;

I am equally...