Ernest at the Cathedral

It is a nice place to meet
Is it not?

It is
It is a nice place
It is

And this bench is never free
We are very lucky
To have this bench free

And it is a nice place
It is
It is

Perfect view of the cathedral

I have never been inside of it
Never
Not once
No, no

But I have admired it
From this bench
Many times

A man does not walk into a cathedral
When he has abrasions on his soul

These are offensive to God
This is what I was taught
From the time I was young

But it is a beautiful cathedral

Sometimes it snows
And the snow covers the ground
But not the cathedral

Sometimes it rains
And the rains wets the streets
And the people in the streets
But not the cathedral

Sometimes someone stops
Stops
Right where they are
And they stand
And they stare
And then something happens
A car horn
Or a yell
And they break
And move away
Feeling embarrassed

That is what the cathedral does
It reminds you
That there is such a thing
As majesty

It recalls a time
When people believed
That Heaven had a floor
That hung just low enough
So that you could touch it
With your prayers

They built these massive places
To show God
How much they loved him

To show him that they could fill
These enormous halls
With hope and love
And dedication

When I was at my lowest point
I could not fill up a closet
With anything more
Than two shirts
And my revulsion

The only thing I did right during that time
Was to stay away from the cathedral
A place I loved so much

Because I didn't want God to see
I didn't want God to see me

So I would sit on this bench
When it was free
Which sometimes it wasn't
And sometimes it was

Or I'd sit somewhere else
Or another bench
Or on the ground

And I would look
And I would pray
And I would ask
To be good enough again
To go back in

And now I'm old
Old, yes, old

And I'm almost there
I'm almost ready
To go back in

But until then
It is nice out here

Yes, very nice

And very nice
To watch the people stop
And look up
At Heaven