Save the Cathedral! (3)

Cometh the Hour …

 

When Coventry was cowed, it got Godiva.

The French were frantic, so God sent them Joan,

and Stanley showed up just when Livingstone

required him.  Enter left, a doughty diver!

 

What wasn’t needed was a fancy talker,

back-slapping, banter-cracking, glib buffoon.

This called for someone steady, silent, hewn

from granite. And his name was William Walker.

 

The work was not too tricky, in itself.

One man alone could cut away the wood

(but under water, mind you).  Not for pelf

(the word exists -- go look it up!), nor yet

for fame, but just because somebody should,

bold Walker took it on. We’re in his debt.

Author's Note

(1) Coventry/Godiva: According to a medieval legend, Coventry (another of England’s cathedral towns) was saved from harsh taxes when Godiva, a noblewoman, rode naked on horseback through the streets, to publicize the citizens’ plight.
(2) Joan of Arc arrived on the scene just in time to lead the French to victory over their English oppressors (did the English ever do anything else?)
(3) Stanley/Livingstone: In November 1871, Henry Morton Stanley (an American journalist) met British explorer David Livingstone on the shores of Lake Tanganyika. The latter had been missing for six years, and Stanley’s mission was to rescue him. The encounter gave rise to the well-known phrase, “Doctor Livingstone, I presume?”
(4) William Walker: A very real person, William Walker is the man who saved Winchester Cathedral single-handed.