Orthodox

I shall light white candles

Before my patron saint;

I shall kneel,

Asking and receiving.

I shall burn brown incense

At a Buddhist shrine;

I shall kowtow,

Half believing.

While the blue smoke is in the air,

While the candles still are burning,

I shall set a lama's prayer-wheel

Turning.

I shall leave the cathedral

With the mass half sung;

I shall leave the temple

Before the bell has rung.

T shall leave the lama

With his staff and bowl,

And seek another way

To save my soul.

Half trusting all the deities,

To no god I am true,

Half a sceptic, half a nun,

I come to you.