"The parish priest
Of Austerity
Climbed up a high church steeple
To be nearer God,
So that he might hand
His Word down to His people.
When the sun was high,
When the sun was low,
The good man sat unheeding
Sublunary things;
From transcendency
Was he forever reading.
And now and again,
When he heard the creak
Of the weather-vane a-turning,
He closed his eyes
And said; "Of a truth
From God I now am learning."
And in sermon script
He daily wrote
What he thought was sent from heaven;
And he dropped this down
On his people's heads
Two times one day in seven.
In his age God said:
"Come down and die."
And he cried out from the steeple:
"Where art Thou, Lord?"
And the Lord replied:
"Down here among my people!"
