A POEM INSPIRED BY A VISITING PREACHER

WHEN THE BISHOP OF BRETBY CAME IN

When the Bishop of Bretby came in,
His cassock aglow in the afternoon sun,
The door let in with him a gust of air just
As the choir the Nunc had begun.
And the choir, struck silent,
All turned with surprise,
No murmuring came from within:
And the lights became brighter,
The linen much whiter
When the Bishop of Bretby came in.

When the Bishop of Bretby came in,
His sermon as long as a doctoral thesis,
The choir resum-ed their canticle, stunned
Though they were by this brash epiclesis.
His chimere was enormous
To fright Nonconformists
And to assure the forgiveness of sin:
And his pectoral cross
Was six miles across
When the Bishop of Bretby came in.

When the Bishop of Bretby shall come in
To Jerusalem, City of transparent glass
With its twinkling twelvefold foundations of birthstones
And twelve gates through which he shall pass:
He'll improve on the features
Of the four living creatures
As the Father breaks into a grin:
Though a moment sublime
It won't beat the time
When the Bishop of Bretby came in.

MCS
19.x.2009
(To H.S., with kindest wishes and inspired by true events.)

LATEST NEWS

There are no news items at present