Saturday, September 13, 2014

A New Poem - "Excommunication"



Excommunication

“IT IS ORDERED that the defendant be placed on probation, and the defendant 
shall … not consume intoxicants at any time or any place, and not be present in a place  where the sale of alcohol is the major business.”

I was most sad when they said unto me,
Let’s go into the house where ale is poured,
And tenebral, cool spirits flow down free:
For from such houses I have now been barred.

My sin has gated me on every side
From every type of liquid reverence.
The judge’s writ has bound my will and tied
Me to a bleak, unwilling temperance.

When I recall this, I pour out my soul:
For I had gone in with the multitude
To this , or to some other watering hole,
With voice of praise and joyful attitude.

But now the streets are dark; my friends inside
The merry meeting place think not of me.
Communion with them there I’ve been denied,
I’m excommunicated by decree.

Yet in the life to come, I will imbibe
The Beer of beer and sip the Wine of wines,
All glory to the Bartender ascribe,
And worship at that holy pub betimes.

© 2014 – Paul Erlandson