"St. Anthony of Padua preaches to the fishes"
When Antonius goes preaching
The churches are empty.
He's off to the rivers
To preach to the fish.
They all flick their tails
And glint in the sunlight.
The carp with their eggs
Have all come along.
Their mouths open wide
All the better to listen.
No sermon has ever
Pleased the fish so much.
The speckled pike
That are always fighting
Have come hurrying along
To hear the holy man.
And even those strange creatures
That are always fasting,
I mean the cod,
Appear at the sermon.
No sermon ever
Pleased the cod so much.
Fine eel and sturgeon,
Those delicate feeders,
Recline at their ease
To take in the sermon.
Crabs too and turtles,
So slow in their errands,
Shoot up from the sea bed
To listen to his words.
No sermon ever
Pleased the crabs so much.
Fish great and small
Of high and low degree,
Raise their heads
At his words like intelligent beings.
As God desires,
They listen to the sermon.
But once it is over
They each turn away.
The pike stay thieves,
The eels remain lechers:
They liked the sermon
And they remain like everyone else;
The crabs still go backward,
The cod stay stupid,
The carp still gorge themselves,
They forgot the sermon,
They liked the sermon
And they remain like everyone else.
--
if music be the food of love,
tho' yet the treat is only sound.
Sure I must perish by your charms,
unless you save me in your arms.
---- Heveningham/Weichin Chen
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