Stanley Cook
The Upper Chapel In Norfolk Street, Sheffield
The silent garden of the Upper Chapel,
With flowers in concrete comets, is full as an ear
With city centre noise.
YOU ARE INVITED TO ENTER.
PLEASE DON’T FEED THE PIGEONS.
OFFENDERS WILL BE PROSECUTED.
Adjacent buildings overshadow
Its shady trees and in the double shadow
A sundial nevertheless is under orders
To NUMBER ONLY THE SUNNY HOURS.
I tread on the gravestones of former worthies
WHO WORSHIPPED AND HELD HIGH OFFICE IN THIS CHAPEL
And now, ignoring pedestrians,
Humbly prostrate their remains.
Park-type seats are provided
For people to sit and remember their witness.
The Chapel thrusts the posters on its Wayside Pulpit
Onto my attention, its messages
Recalling Reader’s Digest fillers:
THE MAN WHO BLOWS HIS OWN TRUMPET
NEVER GETS INTO A GOOD ORCHESTRA.
TO REFORM THE WORLD BEGIN WITH YOURSELF.
PREJUDICE IS BEING DOWN ON WHAT YOU ARE NOT UP ON.
A KINDLY ACT IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS.
Nothing in life is free, not even free advice,
And in the Chapel nineteenth century furniture
Subdivides the space on courtroom style
Where, once the patter lures you inside,
All is ready to put your life on trial.
A van stands parked in the road outside,
Pre-releasing the verdict on a window sticker -
JESUS HAS WON.
With flowers in concrete comets, is full as an ear
With city centre noise.
YOU ARE INVITED TO ENTER.
PLEASE DON’T FEED THE PIGEONS.
OFFENDERS WILL BE PROSECUTED.
Adjacent buildings overshadow
Its shady trees and in the double shadow
A sundial nevertheless is under orders
To NUMBER ONLY THE SUNNY HOURS.
I tread on the gravestones of former worthies
WHO WORSHIPPED AND HELD HIGH OFFICE IN THIS CHAPEL
And now, ignoring pedestrians,
Humbly prostrate their remains.
Park-type seats are provided
For people to sit and remember their witness.
The Chapel thrusts the posters on its Wayside Pulpit
Onto my attention, its messages
Recalling Reader’s Digest fillers:
THE MAN WHO BLOWS HIS OWN TRUMPET
NEVER GETS INTO A GOOD ORCHESTRA.
TO REFORM THE WORLD BEGIN WITH YOURSELF.
PREJUDICE IS BEING DOWN ON WHAT YOU ARE NOT UP ON.
A KINDLY ACT IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS.
Nothing in life is free, not even free advice,
And in the Chapel nineteenth century furniture
Subdivides the space on courtroom style
Where, once the patter lures you inside,
All is ready to put your life on trial.
A van stands parked in the road outside,
Pre-releasing the verdict on a window sticker -
JESUS HAS WON.
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