The Pious Man

A travelled man versed in Worldly ways,
Was our erstwhile, beloved Deacon,
To those in Need gave nights and days,
This poor communities’ Spiritual Beacon.

He laid the Altar and swept the Nave,
Tolled the Bell in our Church tower,
A fathom deep he dug each Grave,
And in Reverence held God’s Power.

He would tend the aged, sick and frail,
With no thought of his own well-being,
Service unto others his chosen Grail,
Afore Great Heaven’s Eye, All-seeing.

As One our Clans did due declare,
O’er that fine Deacon’s mortal span,
His Deeds of Good beyond compare
For there strode a Pious man.

A Divine aureole did anoint his crown
And Goodness beamed from the face,
Yet our Deacon played this halo down
As perhaps a noose not yet in place.

Aye, learned of arrant human traits,
Possessed a deep sagacious ken,
Brought us afore our spiritual gates
And converted Bipeds into Men.

From whence he came, none e’r knew,
Emerged as our old priest passed on,
Where the hoar frosts of Winter grew
He unfurled Spring’s warming sun.

This Guiding Light, in mortal form,
Emanated love and demure humility,
His spiritual blanket kept all warm,
And gave restless souls tranquillity.

Extolled sacred truths at Evensong,
From the pulpit, bore staid and tall,
That God beheld each Right and Wrong
For all of Earth be His Celestial Hall.

Gathered close in the church each night
Our Clans joined for Divine Communion,
The Deacon edified on Eternal Light
And to attain this Hallowed Union.

He spake that God was in all of men
Not some Deity rent aloof or abroad,
And the Bible wrote by the Liar’s pen,
Composed for his own venal accord.

‘Twas so we learned of material things
Being the anchor that bound man’s soul,
The desires of golden chains and rings
Denied to all their due spiritual goal.

Thereon his lessons became our guide
And duly embraced the Arch of the Sky,
In all elements beneath He doth reside
With the Testaments a Contrived Lie.

He lives in each and every issue of man,
Yet clerics would bind us for slaves
Subjugated souls throughout mortal span,
From our cradles unto our graves.

Serfs afore the creed of temporal desire,
Benefices and tithes their Holy Rod,
Smother the flames of true numinous fire
With fear of Rome’s mendacious God.

So get thee behind, all perjuring priests
We worship the Earth and the plough,
In the furrow sown we take divine feasts
With an exact God of Here and Now,
With the one Deity who binds all Nature,
For she bears His Grace in every feature.

Upon this conversion the Deacon rejoiced,
For his tasks in our midst were ended,
‘Neath the Sky’s Arch our praises voiced
As with Nature, enraptured, he blended
In an ethereal form, as breeze and light,
As One with the Whole took his due flight.

Hear now the bell, it tolls in the tower,
As on knees devout we tend the Earth
Nurturing each sweet herb and flower
That our Deacon blesses with birth.

Aye, hear the bell toll, rung by His hand,
As His Essence courses the skies,
Surveying Heaven’s vast fertile land,
Reborn Eternal, for naught ever dies.

For this the Promise borne from His mouth,
To North and East, to West and South,
They who Believe and look Within
Shalt ne’er become the tools of Sin.