Hell, Heaven And Purgatory

As a young schoolgoing boy I learnt of hell and heaven
The bad doomed to hell the good to heaven go
But now a little with four decades later
I question how could anybody know?.

About the true existence of such places
And since dead person never returned to tell me
That he or she has been to hell or heaven
Then why should I believe what the living never see?

When I was young I learnt of purgatory
Where in after life the sinful soul done time
And after sentence served they went to heaven
Purged of the sin of minor Earthly crime.

But threats of purgatory and hell by most unheeded
And crime on the increase as the years go by
And talks of after life damnation to criminals a non deterrent
Though I believed such when I was young boy.

As years go by the crime rate on the increase
And many don't hold fear of purgatory or hell
And the only law that many fear is man's law
The fear of spending time in prison cell.

When I was young I believed in this place called heaven
For good people an afterlife of joy
And I feared Satan and hell and damnation
The innocence of a young school going boy.