Tale of an Ancient Sin

There was always an odour of sin around

The nave of that ancient church,

I knew of it as a choirboy,

I didn’t have far to search,

The smell welled up in the vestry,

A sulphur and brimstone tang,

It leached on into our cassocks

When the bell for the matins rang.

 

The priest, he was old and doddering

And didn’t look ripe for sin,

Old Father Coates may have sowed his oats

With nobody looking in,

But sin was there for a century,

It wasn’t of recent time,

The stories told of a Father Golde

I heard from a friend of mine.

 

Back in the days when the church was strong

And it ruled the lives of all,

A Father Golde was the priest of old

And preached of the devil’s fall,

When women came to confess their sins

And spoke of their evil deeds,

The priest took them at the altar there

In sin, and down on their knees.

 

The Nuns attached to the convent were

Obedient to his whim,

And many a cold and frosty night

He would call a sister in,

Her place, he said, was to warm his bed

To deter his chills, and ague,

And many a child was born in dread

To the parish, since the plague.

 

But one day after confessional

He had raped a Colonel’s wife,

Who came to him with her petty sin

And described what it was like,

The priest, inflamed by her words and deeds

Had her pressed by the vestry door,

And who could know what she had to show

But the flagstones on the floor.

 

A troop of soldiers had marched on in

To assuage the Colonel’s rage,

The moment the wife had gone back home

And told of the priest’s outrage,

They seized the priest and they ran him through

With a sword right to the hilt,

Then tied him onto the cross outside

Where a sign outlined his guilt.

 

And every year on the first of June

You can hear the feet outside,

Marching up to the old church door,

The day that the father died.

A sense of sin that is coming in

As the church doors swing apart,

And blood appears on the altar in

The shape of an evil heart.

 

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[B]

It is amazing how individuals of religious can do so much sin .......
Goes to show the more one shows something the less true it becomes i guess

Religion is to be practiced in secrecy

I love how you placed this sin on this land ..... Feels like to me that a major sin outlives it's time
Reaching onto others inhabitant of such a place

The devils and spirits reside in places of sin
So that priest did more than just commit a sin

He changed the air in the atmosphere in a way

Not sure but i have true conviction of such thoughts

Thanks for sharing yet again one of your masterpieces

[andrew mitchell]

A great write and I hate with anger today how paedophile priests that are guilty are dealt by the church and not the law and they preach of God What hypocrites!!. Excellent work you stirred my emotions on this one lol:(:0

[A Soap Mess Stories]

It seems the priest had his own confession to make...great tale, DLP...

[R Smith]

now that was exciting and enthralling, the randy old priest huh! sad he was such an evil man who clearly had the way of using religion to make foolish women believe they had to bend (literally) to his will but push your luck to far and it will come back to bite you, this priest paid for his sin and relived it year in year out, marvelous writing David :)

[Marie]

That was a chilling tale. I could just imagine that priest taking women at the alter...and then being tied to a cross. This church needs to be exorcised by a proper priest.

[Confuser]

Wow David: An ominous feeling to this one...and of course very well written. It's wonderful to read about retribution, he certainly deserved. Made me think of so many woman years ago that had no where to go, and it still happens in many parts of the world. The flow is impeccable, just brilliant writing. I love your work! Thank you so very much. Dale

[fattycbreezy52]

Aha!a poem narrating a story of evil and horror.A devilish approach!
Amazing writeup giving out your ideas on corrupted souls .I loved the poem on the whole.Great story!:)

[Valentine]

A different approach to the old tale of some priests abusing their flock. I really like the last grouping and how you ended it with the blood on the alter in the shape of a heart. I always compare the heart to "love" and this behavior "lust." Another steamy tale from the creator of great stories. Valentine