Ave Poem by Harry St Vincent Beechey

The bell is cracked

But no matter

Thou who do not hear it

Would not come



And the stained glass windows

Are stained indeed

And glean of red and green

Cast pools of colour in the dust



And pageantry and promp

Have grown too pompous

And the fat priests

Are old men dressed in funny clothes



And the plastic virgin

Simpering in a blue robe

Had her nose broken off

Before they invented penicillin



It used to turn them on

Or so they say

No more! No more!

They all freaked out Amen.



H SV Beechey

24/10/1968