In Upper San Francisco + 

I heard that Heaven was bright and fair, + 

And politicians dwelt not there. + 

’Twas said by knowing ones that they + 

Were in the Elsewhere⁠—so to say. + 

So, waking from my last long sleep, + 

I took my place among the sheep. + 

I passed the gate⁠—though angels eyed + 

Me sharply as I stepped inside. + 

The new Jerusalem⁠—ah me, + 

It was a sorry sight to see! + 

The mansions of the blest were there, + 

And mostly they were fine and fair; + 

But O, such streets!⁠—so deep and wide + 

And all unpaved, from side to side! + 

And in a public square there grew + 

A blighted tree, most sad to view. + 

From off its trunk the bark was ripped⁠— + 

Its very branches all were stripped! + 

An angel perched upon the fence + 

With all the grace of indolence. + 

“Celestial bird,” I cried in pain, + 

“What vandal wrought this wreck? Explain.” + 

He raised his eyelids as if tired: + 

“What is a Vandal?” he inquired. + 

“This is the Tree of Life. ’Twas stripped + 

By Durst and Siebe, who have shipped + 

“The bark across the Jordan⁠—see?⁠— + 

And sold it to a tannery.” + 

“Alas,” I sighed, “their old-time tricks! + 

That pavement, too, of golden bricks⁠— + 

“They’ve gobbled that?” But with a scowl, + 

“You greatly wrong them,” said the fowl: + 

“ ’Twas Gilleran did that, I fear⁠— + 

Head of the Street Department here.” + 

“What! what!” cried I⁠—“you let such chaps + 

Come here? You’ve Satan, too, perhaps.” + 

“We had him, yes, but off he went, + 

Yet showed some purpose to repent; + 

“But since your priests and parsons filled + 

The place with those their preaching killed”⁠— + 

(Here Siebe passed along with Durst, + 

Psalming as if their lungs would burst)⁠— + 

“He swears his foot no more shall press + 

Our soil⁠—’tis cloven, though, I guess. + 

“In short, the fellow’s out on strike⁠— + 

But devils are not all alike.” + 

Lo! Gilleran came down the street, + 

Pressing the soil with broad, flat feet! + 