To Build a Steeple (Erect)

Lyrics

[Intro]

[Verse 1]
Reverend Goss stood there on May 12th, 2023,
with the blueprint unrolled on the old oak table in the parsonage kitchen.
The steeple parts arrived by the mail boat from Valparaíso,
crated in pine, labeled with Chilean stamps dated April 28th.
He said, Bouba, we will erect this steeple today,
raise it straight against the southern sky at Point Nemo.
I handed him the hammer, the one with the hickory handle,
engraved with his initials, A.G., from his ordination in 1998.

[Chorus]
To erect is to build, to lift wood and nail,
frame by frame, until it touches the clouds.
No other meaning here, just the honest work,
hands callused, sweat on the brow,
the steeple rising like a promise kept.

[Verse 2]
We started at dawn, 6:15 AM,
with the base bolted to the chapel roof using sixteen galvanized screws,
each three inches long, bought from the hardware store in Hanga Roa.
Reverend Goss climbed the ladder, a Werner model FS106,
and I passed the crossbeam, cut from New Zealand kauri wood,
felled in 2019 near Auckland.
By noon, the spire pointed true north,
aligned with the compass he carried in his pocket,
a brass antique from his grandfather's seafaring days in 1924.

[Bridge]
And as we stepped back, the wind from the Pacific,
carrying salt from waves crashing on the sea wall built in 2005,
whispered through the new bell, a bronze one cast in Birmingham,
ringing its first note, clear and true.
No hidden jokes, just the structure standing tall.

[Verse 3]
That evening, at 7:42 PM, under the light of the lantern,
a Coleman model 220F from 1963,
Reverend Goss blessed it with water from the aspergillum,
the silver one gifted by the bishop in 2011.
Bouba, he said, this steeple we erected together,
will guide the lost coracles back to shore.
I nodded, feeling the warmth of the day in my palms.

[Outro]
The steeple stands, erected by our hands,
honest and high.