Another poem from the concluding appendix to The Gay Science.  I like the sardonic note of this one, a surreal description of a professional religionist, of a man-of-the-cloth.  Beppa is the pious priest, the first to benefit from forgiveness-at-a-discount offered by the church.  “With another sin, one wipes old sins away.”  Another phrasing that I like:  “As long as I look classy, piety is no pity.”  Apparently this is an alternate rendering of the 1990 Andre Agassi promo line for Canon cameras:  “Image is everything.”

Enjoy the photos of late summer blossoms.

Pious Beppa

As long as I look classy,
Piety is no pity.
We know, God loves a lassy,
At least if she is pretty.
And my poor little monk
He’ll pardon cheerfully
That like many a monk
He loves to be with me.

No church father who’s sallow!
But blushing youthful greed:
Hung over, they still wallow
In jealousy and need.
He does not love old age,
The old are not my line:
How marvelous and sage
Is our Lord’s design!

The church knows how to live,
It tries the heart and face,
Sees me, and will forgive:
Who does not show me grace?
One lisps of deep chagrin.
A curtsey, and good-bye-
And with another sin
One wipes old sins away.

Praise be to God who lives
And loves the pretty maids,
And who gladly forgives
Himself his escapades.
As long as I look classy
Piety is no pity:
When I am old and gassy.
The Devil take my kitty!