Old Time Religion

A vessel burst in God’s big brain

God blinked back tears but felt no pain

The pain, the brain and God made three

Together they did trouble me

They brought me hurt, they bought me joy

They taught me straitly to be good

And long I was a good, good boy

And ate their bread and drank their blood

Till day so dark I could not see

Obscured my hope that they and he

Would bring me back to life again

That I’d live long in God’s big brain

But when night came instead ‘twas they

Who stole my heart and hands away

Nine years I searched for my right hand

And found it in an empty chest

Around the chest an iron band

My hand within was cleaned and prest

And from it grew a green green tree

Each leaf of which resembled me

Atop the tree there sat a boy

Who promised all and sundry joy

That he would take them all below

And tell them when to come and go

I saw the boy meant me no harm

And yet I could not help but howl

When I saw he’d took my good left arm

And with it held my shrunken soul

Give me my arm said I said I

But keep my soul and let it die.