A frugal requiem

The dead waited beneath
A veil of arrant frugality
To drink from the goblet of
Unvanquished immortality

It was an extraordinary gathering
Of things that may never die
But already dead and chattering
Of the ecclesiastic passing by.

It was not that strange when I think today
Nothing but a frugal requiem.

Whitings assembled to be sacrificed
In coteries of unnamed banner
The ritual was about to commence
With such incipient manner.

A moeity of honesty that each soul has
Not more than half nor less than it
An insuperable task to think of such
To do , to sing
To chant, to drink.

And thus began the final rite
To bring the dead back to life
And it was all so smooth and fine
When flew a silent porcupine
Above the heads the heads of dead
And skies the hue of burning red
The beast landed somewhere there
Below the heavens above the stare
Of those dead eyes.

And thus he spoke:
"Think. O think again you fools
The purpose of such deed
To live a futile life again
To wound and hurt and bleed
Why better off, do you think
Is the world of the living
The dead are now your kindred
The joy of dying and giving
Your life to such greatness"

The porcupine above them vanished
In a puff of smoke they saw
The dead were sure of what it said
And the ice began to thaw.

And thus the Leader of the dead , said:
" Kill the priest and his priestess
In moments of such grief and distress
They expect us to celebrate life
And be born again in neverending strife
To live again to die again
To go through joy to go through pain
But no. No more of this jabber
Hey Ben! Pick up that hammer
And bang it on the head up there"

And thus Been ran and killed the two
And the dead then danced anew
To tunes of death and tunes of Glee
In shining , merry revelry.

But then the Church shook and groaned
The Willow trees around them moaned
And all around them turned dark and dank
The dead gazed around their faces blank
And to their horror what they saw
Two brand new admissions in their rank.

After all it was nothing much of a surprise
As I had told you. It was just a frugal requiem.