The Friends of the Cathedral

From Poems in the Porch 1954

At the end of our Cathedral

    Where people buy and sell

It says “Friends of the Cathedral”,

    And I’m sure they wish it well.

Pehaps they gave the bookstall

    Of modernistic oak,

And the chairs for the assistants

    And the ashtrays for a smoke.

Is it they who range the marigolds

    In pots of art design

About “The Children’s Corner”,

    That very sacred shrine?

And do they hang the notices

    Off old crusader’s toes?

And paint the cheeks of effigies

    That curious shade of rose?

Those things that look like wireless sets

    Suspended from each column,

Which bellow out the Litany

    Parsonically solemn—

Are these a present from the Friends?

    And if they are, how nice

That aided by their echo

    One can hear the service twice.

The hundred little bits of script

    Each framed in passe-partout

And nailed below the monuments,

    A clerical “Who’s Who”—

Are they as well the work of Friends?

    And do they also choose

The chantry chapel curtains

    In dainty tea-shop blues?

The Friends of the Cathedral—

    Are they friendly with the Dean?

And if they do things on their own

    What does their friendship mean?