holy_joe.html

---
title: Holy Joe
description: A poem by C. Robert Hilton.
keywords: poem,poetry,sea poetry, robert hilton, Robert Hilton, Hilton, hilton
layout: hh
---

<p>I’m sat out on deck, we’re alongside Park Quay,
<br>Splicing eyes in a multiplait,
<br>When this men comes on board and comes right up to me,
<br>And asks to know what I am at.</p>

<p>But not so he means it. I see straight away
<br>That seamanship’s not his ambition.
<br>So I put in some tucks, wait to hear what he’ll say,
<br>And he tells me he’s come from the Mission.</p>

<p>But he isn’t a padre, he’s not a trainee,
<br>Or any of that Sailors’ Home squad,
<br>But he pulls out some pamphlets and books, two or three,
<br>And asks if I think about God.</p>

<p>Well yes, standing watches for hours on end
<br>My thoughts run all over the show,
<br>And you may be surprised to find seafarers tend
<br>To see further and more than you know.</p>

<p>And I reckon the badness is mostly ashore,
<br>And you’ll find it in every guise:
<br>The con man, the mugger, the pimp and the whore,
<br>The preacher with well polished lies.</p>

<p>And cleverer lies than the one you told me
<br>When you mentioned the Mission in vain.
<br>You have some kind of mission, with that I’ll agree,
<br>But you’ve given it a Hell of a stain.</p>

<p>Since you knew Seamen’s Mission was what I’d understand
<br>You have used a cheap salesman’s trick
<br>In the name of your God. Is your God underhand?
<br>And this holy Joe looks pretty sick.</p>

<p>“I’m not to be laughed at,” he says with a frown,
<br>And he leaves without even a nod.
<br>And I feel a bit sad for this self righteous clown,
<br>But I really felt sorry for God.</p>

<p align="right"><small><i>&copy;2008 C. R. Hilton</i></small>