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Title: A Voice From The Dead!
Author: John Castillo [
More Titles by Castillo]
Written on being uncivilly treated, when erecting some
Tombstones in —— Church Yard, where the Author was denied the
use of any part of the Church, Porch, or Stable; was forbidden
to Letter the Stone in the Church Yard, though it was more than
a mile from the Church to the nearest convenient place for such
a work; and was also denied the Keys of the Gate:—yet at that
very time, the parson’s horse and cow, were feeding on the
grass, tearing up the graves, and breaking down the stones,
while none dared to complain! On seeing the horse’s leg sink
into a grave up to the lisk, the following thoughts suggested
themselves.
What foot is that disturbs my rest,
Which through my coffin lid hath press’d,
And caus’d my bones the air to feel?—
It is the parson’s horse’s heel!
’Tis hard so much as there’s to pay,
That corpses cannot quiet lay,
But are by cow or horse plough’d up,
For priests to reap a three-fold crop!
Through such a process they must pass,
The grave, the tombstone, and the grass,
And Easter Offering beside:—
These claims must never be denied!
What though they do the grass devour,
And leave their dung against the door!
Pay up,—say nought,—’What’s that to thou?’
It is the parson’s horse or cow!
I know the living dare not grumble,
Nor at the parson’s conduct stumble!
And when the simple truth is told,
Of dead men they can get no hold.
We thought no hammer was to sound,
Upon this consecrated ground,—
Yet cow or horse may grind our bones
And rub their sides against the stones!
Some think things so are constituted,
That masons’ tools are all polluted,
But that the parson’s horse or cow,
Like th’ Church, is consecrated too!
Thus they may gallop o’er our graves,
And split our coffins into halves;
In spite of widows tears and groans,
May pastime make of dead folks’ bones!
This is too hard for flesh and blood!
A thing which cannot be withstood;
A thing which inward grief imparts
To pious minds and tender hearts.
But men enthrall’d must never speak,
Nor for redress attempt to seek,
But with such creatures be content,
As Bishops have ordain’d and sent.
Like him who dwells upon the coast,
Who of the priesthood makes his boast,
Regardless what the flock endure,
“If he can but the fleece secure!”
His present residence and living,
Are of his earthly father’s giving;
So none his title dare dispute,
For Bishops cannot turn him out!
Though life and conduct be profane,
He knows that men dare not complain;
Or soon he’d show them his degrees,
And take revenge in tythes and fees!
Such workmen’s labour is in vain
To keep their hands from bloody stain;
In vain they strive to show the road,
That leads to glory and to God!
No wonder if such Church decay,
If members leave it day by day,
Where tyrannising is the law,—
And till a change, it must be so.
The remedy will be unknown,
Till Priests are of the Spirit born;
Till they get hearts refin’d and pure,
Dissenters must their scorn endure!
[The end]
John Castillo's poem: Voice From The Dead!
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