Gethsemane, Again
In Gloucester Cathedral, on Saturday night
I came to your flower show, blown like a kite
And I stood by the tombstones, and gazed at the lights
On the altar
And the horse-faced old ladies and tweedy-toned men
Of county society they came and they went
With pamphlets and leaflets of Christian events
For the fall
But ain't it all just like Jesus
Crying in the rain?
Ain't it all just Gethsemane again?
Oh the half-a-crown programmes on sale at the door
Were clutched in the teeth of the rich and the poor
As they swayed in an undertone conscience-free
Forward together
And the outstretching hands of the swains of the Lord
Sold the communing commuters the word
With LPs of Mary and photos of God
In the hall
But ain't it all just like Jesus
Crying in the rain?
Ain't it all just Gethsemane again?
Oh the flowers hushed the air as the columns advanced
To the clinking of coins in a ritual dance
On flagstones that ached for a chance of a chance
Of escaping
And the mystical statues looked down so depressed
At the endless possessors becoming possessed
And the costumed confessors who never confessed
To the wall
But ain't it all just like Jesus
Crying in the rain?
Ain't it all just Gethsemane again?
Oh I saw a blue hair-rinse, I saw a black tooth
I saw a false face in a telephone booth
And the stark white-faced roses that screamed out the truth
Of their dying
And a walrus's dreams and a carpenter's love
Absorbed like a hand in a great rubber glove
And flown like a flag over battlefields
Factories and all
Ain't it all just like Jesus
Crying in the rain?
Ain't it all just Gethsemane again?
Oh I dodged the collection box choirboy and out
To the streets where the wind shook my hair with a shout
And the dusty-faced daisies were blowing about
So freely
And Christ in the ruins was wandering again
As he walked with the beggars and talked to the lame
And danced with the children and sailors who came
At his call
But ain't it all just like Jesus
Crying in the rain?
Ain't it all just Gethsemane again?
Ain't it all just like Jesus
Crying in the rain?
Ain't it all just Nazareth again?