We’ve patented
the keys
to the universe
We don’t hoard them, no,
we’re quite free with sub-licenses
to any man who will agree to a few terms,
and recognize our claim, of course
God was so kind
as to grant us a monopoly
until such time
as the levites
are ready to take over
I thought this was going to need a fourth stanza, but I think it actually works.
This is doing one of the things I like to do with poetry, which is to take a modern technical term (often from finance, or software, or engineering) and juxtapose it with some aspect of religion. And hopefully this leaves us with the impression that there are actually some unanswered questions in our theology and scripture -- what do we think John the Baptist meant that "the keys never shall be taken again from the earth until the sons of levi do offer again an offering in righteousness"? We're often much more confident about our theology than I think we have a right to be; there are a whole lot of things that get complicated when you look into them.