The Ex-Dean of Grace Cathedral

is wearing socks
made of coffee grounds,
recycled and sold on-line

by the Ministry of Supply.
Coarse grind or extra fine
he did not say. Nor did he

divulge what foreign soil
and climes had spawned
the beneficent hosiery he

had on. Nam, perhaps. Dregs
of the bitter beans whose jolt
and meager price helped deliver

that ravaged land from oblivion.
He gave up long ago, he tells
me now, his puerile dream

of saving by his far-too-human
hands this far-too-human world.
So he does, instead, our

benevolent dean of grace,
what little he can do. Pray.
Be kind. Tread softly through

this old beleaguered world.
Preferably in socks
made of coffee grounds.