I walked the aisle

<p>Some might think this poem was sparked by the case of Cardinal George Pell, who was convicted of oral rape of two altar boys in St Patrick&#39;s Cathedral, Melbourne.&nbsp; Not so, it was actually provoked by the conviction (overturned on appeal) of Archbishop Wilson of Adelaide, for failing to report sexual abuse to the NSW police.&nbsp; &nbsp;I wished, however, to enter the reaction of a Catholic layperson to the whole phenomenon of child sexual abuse.&nbsp; Such a poem will necessarily focus on the Catholic Church.&nbsp; However, the intention is more genera, since sexual abuse of children is far from limited to the Catholic Church.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>I have written in standard alliterative metre, as used by Enlish poets from the Old English period into the twentientieth century, and now into the twnty first.&nbsp; Both JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis have written on this verse form (Tolkien also wrote in this form.&nbsp; I understand he also gave advice when consulted to WH Auden).&nbsp; I intend at some stage to revise into one essay two short essays I once wrote on alliteration.</p>