Chaucer goes on - <br /> <br />'And was a povere Parsoun of a town <br />But riche he was of hooly thoght and werk <br />He was also a lerned man, a clerk...' <br /> <br />Let's saddle up with the pilgrims on their way <br />to the shrine at Canterbury and look at a saint <br />in the garb of poor parish priest, a man <br /> <br />rich in holy thought and more to the point <br />an active worker at his priestly task <br />A man of spiritual wealth <br /> <br />A priest not like the affluent and worldly monk <br />nor the thieving and lecherous pardoner <br />a priest who honors his vocation <br /> <br />by his daily work among the poor and sick <br />Give me a saint who's not afraid to soil <br />his hands grubbing among the poor <br /> <br />Avoid the liberal cleric hobnobbing <br />with politicians and justifying oppression <br />by looking the other way<br /><br />Michael Pruchnicki<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-good-man-ther-was-of-religoun/
