Upon Reading the Life of St. Peter Gonzales, Known as Elmo

St. Big Bird gave his early days to sensuality
Performing as a minor star in popular entertainment.
Having emulated on a dare the lifestyle
Of the popular stylites of the day,
He found enlightenment in meditation
Prayer, and recitation of the alphabet.

He gathered a large following of converts
Who flocked to his sermons
Much admired for the simplicity
And directness of their faith.
St. Big Bird speaks of God as the Biggest Bird in the sky,
A bird that is sky to all other birds
A sky that is bird to all other skies.

Upon his thirty-third birthday
Despite the sizable crowds awaiting his word
St. Big Bird felt, as he said, an “urge to fly south”
Which led him to abandon his role
As a prominent figure in the church
And seek further enlightenment
Among other species of avian wildlife.

 He is reported to have flown steadily east
And to have preached to the cranes of Japan,
Where he would have been exposed to Shintoism.
No corroborated records exist of these travels
And the similarities with the travels of the Simurg,
In the Moslem world, seem to point
To the apocryphal nature of these stories.

St. Big Bird, feather of the church,
Died a virgin
Never having found a mate.