Spectator competition: lines on Heaven and Hell (plus: compose a lament for a defunct newspaper)

Nietzsche famously said that in Heaven ‘all the interesting people are missing’. To judge by the entries for the latest competition — which asked you to describe your idea of heaven or hell in verse — most of you agree that paradise might not be all it’s cracked up to be.

It was a large and lively postbag. Commiserations go to Peter Goulding, Sylvia Fairley, Bill Greenwell and John-Paul Marney, who were unlucky to miss out on a place in the winning line-up. The poems below earn their authors £25 apiece. Congratulations to Philip Roe, who nabs £30.

Philip Roe
When the heavenly choir eternal sings a glorious
       Amen
It’s a certain indication they’re about to start again;
For the singing never ceases in celestial realms
       above;
And the theme is the imperative for unremitting
       love.
The classical cantatas are performed by seraphim,
But every hour we blessèd souls all stand up for
       a hymn.