THE ORIGINATOR
“The originator of the Litany of Humility seems to be lost to history, in the obscurity for which he prayed.” - Wikipedia
The originator, a confessor
whom the nonas, nuns, and needy adored,
strove to write a perfect litany
on sadly self-important stationery.
Merciless, each draft could pass no further
than a versicle, let alone responsory.
Lord, my dustbin runneth over, he wept,
ever tempted by his pulping wit.
As crumples colonized the rectory
and amassed like snow upon his cot
(adding too much cushion for his comfort),
he’d ignore the correspondences
and food the sisters left him at his door.
No surprise that he was scribbled sick
buried under countless paper failures;
up until the fateful candle tipped.
His bishop, following the hurried vigil,
forgot to fill the proper paperwork
that recalls a heaven-craving hermit
who braves his way into irrelevance.
As for that prayer, there is no evidence
of its completion; the approximation
we today recite to double bit
our pride, we hope, is just as efficacious.
