It was never my intention
to have so powerful an effect
upon the church as I did, but that’s
how it turned out, I suppose.
I spoke and wrote and argued
reason and tolerance and tradition;
I thought that Catholics
could be saved, oh, the outrage
that created but why not?
Some would call it humanism;
I considered it theology.
My Puritan in-laws used
a voice of disdain later turned
Cromwellian;
my Anglican colleagues used
a voice of disdain later turned
cavalier.
I walked with my Queen
in the Temple garden
as she fretted the Armada;
not a good time
to be nice to Catholics
so I remained diplomatically
silent and kept my head.
It gives me more
than a little pleasure to know
that my small scribblings
would help light the wings
beneath the church;
even the birds think so.
This poem is submitted for One Shot Sunday, hosted by One Stop Poetry. To read other poems based on the photo prompt and an interview with the photographer, James Rainford, please visit One Stop Poetry. To see more photos by Rainford, please visit his site at Fluidr.
Photograph of the statue of Anglican theologian Richard Hooker at Exeter Cathedral by James Rainford for One Stop Poetry. Used with permission.
