We wonder how many Friends have shared the fantasy of David J Harding, who found himself tempted to behave in wrong ordering in Meeting? Dismayed at the surrounding frowns, David had to suppress his urge to minister, as he wanted to jump on a chair and shout 'if you're happy and you know it, clap your hands! Stamp your feet!' Instead he went home and sent us these lines (shortened David – sorry, you should have paid attention to our haiku story recently):
It will come as no surprise
That we Quakers close our eyes,
'gathered in' and 'centred down'
faced by faces with a frown...
caused (I think that I should mention)
by religious concentration.
That lets us off lightly
For few ever seem brightly
To 'seek for the Light'
With sparkling delight.

Labels: CLAP