The Moth and the Candle

The once grand empire is now in retreat
An onslaught of attacks, critiques, criticisms and calumnies
Have left it punch-drunk and weary, dying on its feet
The institutions that flourished under its broad aegis
Have the smell of musty decay and neglect upon them
Their halls and corridors are filled with the slow steps of old men
No infusions of fresh blood for this dying beast
From prince to pauper, the word has trickled down
Don’t look now but they’re on their way out

All things come to pass as each circle does its turning
The fabric of St. Peter is slowly unravelling
Materialism has triumphed over institutional piety
Charisms and ministries disregarded as hocus pocus
The opiate no longer holds the power it once did.
But its strength has not been wholly attenuated
Millions still serve in devotion to its name
Have their leaders betrayed them, their beliefs and their cause
Aligning themselves with each other to ameliorate the blame?
Or have the people played a role, a part and a hand
In this elaborate charade that knows no shame?

What next for this universal ecclesiastical octopus?
A hasty retreat into a pre-prepared shell?
Or an admission of guilt as an unpleasant penitence
As they should believe, awaits them in hell.
But it is not for us to judge these men, for men they are
To announce wrong-doing or pronounce their guilt
Soldiers of Christ or abusers of the innocent
They belong to a church they claim God built
He is judge, jury and the proverbial executioner
In a jurisdiction higher than any government could claim
And so these men and their deeds go unpunished
As absolution is granted without knowing their names.

In conjunction with these events, this would seem to be the end
For an empire on which the sun could never set
Will anything at all attempt to replace it
To expropriate the views and beliefs of those beleaguered millions
To turn this useless fervour into useful industry?
No more mindless Machiavellian belief in yourselves
But a thoughtful and critical belief in ourselves.
Perhaps an attempt should be made to topple
This already swaying edifice to the ground
So that the bricks and mortar of its shaky foundations
Could be used for the factories and workshops instead
Industry, Industry, long live Industry