A sonnet written to mark the 75th anniversary of the National Health Service UK
In Your Hands ~ for the NHS
Kindness
Begone Before We Weep, Young Vicar, Go
On the occasion of the Reverend Ben Rundell-Evans’ last Holy Communion service at St. John the Baptist, Devizes, before his departure to Upper Stour
We’ll miss you in the vestry, little priest
And in the choir where we hear you sing
And at the altar where you share the feast
On Sunday mornings. Nineteen bells to ring
In Stourton, Bourton, Kilmington, and Zeals
Three sets of six, and one for chiming hung
And practices on Mondays – silent peals
Unspoken hymns of glory softly sung
We’ll miss you, little priest. You tidy up
The vestry, and are humorous and kind
The reverence with which you hold the cup
Is absolute. And oh, your lively mind –
So wise for one so young, so good to know
Begone before we weep, young vicar, go
© Gail Foster 6th December 2019
Many Mansions; for Sister David Lewis
Photograph of Sister David Lewis reproduced by kind permission of Scott Coleman
…
Sister David Lewis taught for many years at St. Joseph’s Catholic Primary School in Devizes in Wiltshire, and will be remembered by many with affection and gratitude.
*
I’m crying for a Catholic nun
Who once was kind to me
As I sat there in my miniskirt
Bad mother, C of E
“Sister David, the police came round
And battered down the door”
“Well, do you know, my dear,” she said
“I’ve heard that one before”
And she blessed me, without blinking
With a smile on her face
And I knew I was forgiven
Hail Mary, full of grace
And I can hear as clear as day
The words she said to me
“In my father’s house, my dear,
There many mansions be”
*
© Gail Foster 29th December 2016
gailfromdevizes 