February’s poem
Its title is “The New Vicar of Bray.”
When Grandpapa was Vicar,
The squire was worldly in his ways,
And far too fond of liquor.
My grandsire laboured to exhort
This influential sinner,
As to and fro they passed the port
On Sunday after dinner.
My father stepped Salvation’s road
To tunes of Tate and Brady’s;
His congregation overflowed
With wealthy maiden ladies.
Yet modern thought he did not shirk –
He made his contribution
By writing that successful work,
“The Church and Evolution.”
When I took orders, war and strife
Filled parsons with misgiving,
For none knew who might lose his life
Or who might lose his living.
But I was early on the scenes,
Where some were loth to go, sir!
And there by running Base Canteens
I won the D.S.O., sir!
You may have read “The Very Light” –
A book of verse that I penned –
The proceeds of it, though but slight,
Eked out my modest stipend.
My grandsire’s tactics long had failed,
And now my father’s line did;
So on another tack I sailed
(You can’t be too broad-minded).
The public-house is now the place
To get to know the men in,
And if the King is in disgrace
Then I shall shout for Lenin!
And though my feelings they may shock,
By murder, theft, or arson,
The parson still shall keep his flock
While they will keep the parson!
And this is the law that I’ll maintain
Until my dying day, sir!
That whether King or Mob shall reign,
I’m for the people that pay, sir!
(Colin Ellis)
⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
In Queen Victoria’s early days,When Grandpapa was Vicar,
The squire was worldly in his ways,
And far too fond of liquor.
My grandsire laboured to exhort
This influential sinner,
As to and fro they passed the port
On Sunday after dinner.
My father stepped Salvation’s road
To tunes of Tate and Brady’s;
His congregation overflowed
With wealthy maiden ladies.
Yet modern thought he did not shirk –
He made his contribution
By writing that successful work,
“The Church and Evolution.”
When I took orders, war and strife
Filled parsons with misgiving,
For none knew who might lose his life
Or who might lose his living.
But I was early on the scenes,
Where some were loth to go, sir!
And there by running Base Canteens
I won the D.S.O., sir!
You may have read “The Very Light” –
A book of verse that I penned –
The proceeds of it, though but slight,
Eked out my modest stipend.
My grandsire’s tactics long had failed,
And now my father’s line did;
So on another tack I sailed
(You can’t be too broad-minded).
The public-house is now the place
To get to know the men in,
And if the King is in disgrace
Then I shall shout for Lenin!
And though my feelings they may shock,
By murder, theft, or arson,
The parson still shall keep his flock
While they will keep the parson!
And this is the law that I’ll maintain
Until my dying day, sir!
That whether King or Mob shall reign,
I’m for the people that pay, sir!
⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
(Colin Ellis)