Hymns for the Heathen

Night has draped its cape of stars

Over our small town

From the campus and the tavern

To the chapel and infirmary

We've seen their dreams

We've found the goods

The fables and folly

Of the residents residing in...

14 hymns for the heathen

First hymn, the son of God complex

Second hymn, the prodigal damsel

Third hymn, the tree stump of knowledge

Choking on Adam's apple

This odd lot under the cross

This broken promised land

Of dreamers and schemers

And preachers and predators.

They shall not want

What they've got coming to them

Whether innocent or insolent

14 hymns for the heathen

Fourth hymn, the passion of the chaplain

Fifth hymn, the brute kiss of Judas

Sixth hymn, Sodom falls to ashes

Seventh hymn, the church of doubting Thomas

Eighth hymn, a horse of the apocalypse

Ninth hymn, an immaculate exception

Tenth hymn, the demons of Mary Magdalene

I am a chapel, this is prayer book, these are the parables

God, forgive us, this is our business:

absolving sins of all of these heathens

Eleventh hymn, the Bible Belt tightens

Twelfth hymn, a leacherous Shepard

Thirteenth hymn, hiding in confession

Fourteenth hymn, an afterword

Rocking chairs of disenchantment

Green grass of envy and malice

Our salad days, living in Happy Hollow