All God’s Children

A Church of England pastor
From Runny Meade, UK
Why he had not wed
The pastor could not say
“These are all God’s children
I must love them all!”
Which he loved the most
He hardly could recall:

Oh. . .
The daughter of a lawyer or a clergyman
The mother of another
Or the sister of a friend
A nun of faulty habits and occasional doubt
These are the children I cannot do without

A maid who’s under-paid or a lonely governess
A niece wrest from a priest with too much to confess
The laundress of the mistress of a Winchester lord
These are the children who cannot be ignored

A new spouse in a bathhouse
Though a hole in the wall
An abbess in a thin dress
Or a nurse in none at all
The needy are those pupils
Lacking basic scruples
Let — God’s — will — be done!
I only dread I should be wed
Before I’ve loved each one.