The Communion Of Saints
“Why yes, I sit to tie my shoes,
But hey! I can still tie them;
I may not sit where you would like –
Few friends – I sit beside them.“You think it is your sermons bright
That helps me to next Sabbath;
The building talks, ‘I sat once there,
And father preached each Sabbath.“The building seems an albatross
To you who has to heat it;
But minister it does to me –
‘Hi ancient friend’, I greet it.“You mock us all as birds of home
Stuck in our roosts, there flying –
In other pews sat once our friends,
We'll leave ours too – once dying.“Each week I lie in boredom deep,
Next door abides ‘Old Yeller’ –
For two years I've enjoyed this peace
Beats shouting from that feller.“In seniors’ homes ‘do what you're told’–
They bath and clean your bottom –
When younger, I too fought the fight
Now think this life is rotten.“The folks who sit in pews with me
Aren't garbage for the dustbin;
They're people with great years of life
So watch just where you're spittin’“I know, you like the younger ones
With faces clear – no wrinkles;
Not folks whose stories are a bore
The likes of Rip van Winkle's.But think of it, when you get here
(As certain as the season) –
What life you'll have, you, with your friends,
And shudder – here's the reason:“There comes survivors of the drains
Where parents flushed unwanted;
Not lost on kids, they're not the ones
Aborted – now they're haunted.Those are the ones who'll think, like you,
‘She can't e’en tie her laces’
Then put you in the flushing drains
As ‘Pro-Choice Kids’ – no traces.“Your only hope is attitude
To us, now – we your mothers –
‘Give honor’ is the seventh decree
‘Then long you'll live, like others’.navigation