O What Strange Banquet(A poem dedicated to the Beheading of the Forerunner).

O What Strange Banquet

(A poem dedicated to the Beheading of the Forerunner)

O what strange banquet

Immoral, loathsome feast

Metered in debauchery 

Gluttonous drunken revelry

A king celebrates himself

Herodianesque and “fleshly”

Wanton, carnal, out and out excess

Blinded by strong drink

Engorged by lustful cravings

He solicits a pubescent nymph

Who dances salaciously before him

Amidst bestial guests he begs

“Come to my bridal chamber

I’ll give thee half of me;

Quench my deepest desires

Whatever you ask I’ll please”

A hasty consult with her mother

Binds an inebriated decree

“John’s head upon a charger

That the gift shall be”

Most sorrowful now in continence

For a careless, drunken plea

Yet, because all eyes upon him

He sadly pays her fee

The head of the Forerunner

Ceremoniously not brought forth

Upon a silver salver

Trailing blood upon the floor

Dead eyes transfixed upon the king

As he returns them with regret

Magnifies the ghastly oath he made

With sin and guilty sting.

- Archpriest John Memorich

- Aug. 29, 20026

- Feast of the Beheading of the Forerunner