What became of St Polycarp's

By Luly Whisper

Sat, 23 Apr 2011
  • 1251 reads
6 comments
 

Within these weathered walls of stone,
This crumbling ochre portico
Where students sit and sip and view
The suburb they call Jericho

North-west in vast and shabby nave
Is tucked a gleaming, motley bar.
Square tables stand where food is spread.
Attendants pull on taps and run
With glasses filled with lager, rum
And vodka coloured blue and red.

And up towards the eastern end,
The chancel, transept and the choir,
Lofty above the gathering loud,
The saints in stained glass windows shine.
Lord Who turned water into wine,
Look kindly on this quaffing crowd!

Certificate U
Poem
Mixed bag
Miscellaneous

Comments

Submitted by celticman on
Sad-in some ways-nice ending!

 

Submitted by Silver Spun Sand on
I like this, Luly and could just picture the scene you paint so effectively with your words...the rather tongue in cheek ending, rounding it off nicely;-)

 

Submitted by Luly Whisper on
Not entirely tongue in cheek, Silver Spun Sand. Myself, I'd rather the church was full of worshippers. But if Jesus were to be walking round that town in the flesh, as he did in Galilee, I like to think he would go right in there and talk to people, whether it was a church or a bar. And at the same time the museum-lover in me is glad that I was able to get inside and look round.

Submitted by hilary west on
The temple turned to usury. It happens all too often, but maybe better than pulling these old places down !

 

Submitted by rask_balavoine on
Old Church near me in Belfast is now a pub, music and comedy venue. Strange to listen to very loud indie rock bands standing where once a sedate and ordered choir once sang praise, inappropriate perhaps, but what do you do with a Church that no-one goes to anymore - a question that will never be conclusively settled I suppose and that you have an effective way of expressing.

Rask

Submitted by Luly Whisper on
Yes, good question. Actually there seem to be (in my home town anyway) a lot of groups of practising Christians meeting in houses, community centres, schools etc nowadays, rather than old church buildings. Thanks for reading my poem.