Page 316
By Jack Joseph Smith
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I went away with Heaven
siveral times
And I failed
I went away with Hell
; many more
/ and was successful
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i
By Jack Joseph Smith
Original Scan
AI Interpretation
The speaker bluntly confesses repeated failure with Heaven and repeated success with Hell, turning salvation and damnation into outcomes measured by experience rather than doctrine.
The force comes from how little it explains. Heaven is not mocked or denied, only failed, which makes goodness sound difficult rather than false. Hell, by contrast, is described as familiar terrain, a place of competence, appetite, or practiced ruin.
Seven-line couplet-triplet: went away with Heaven several times and failed; went away with Hell many more and was successful. The joke is austere; failure in Heaven, success in Hell.