If men desire to find belief, to sing
It out through throats works best to make the soul
Embrace it. This will make the sought faith zing
Behind their hearts and manliness’s whole.
The faith will throb straight through the tenor throats,
The baritones and basses’ tongues, and play
Up in the tear ducts through the holy notes,
The notes made sacred by the ricochet
Of music through the body and the brain.
The holiness will well up from the lungs
And wash, as in a holy rite, each stain
Of unbelief away with concord’s tongues.
The counter tenors chime in, too, above
Conviction like a Pentecostal dove.
~ Phillip Whidden