April, as one of our own poets has said, is the cruellest month. Much earlier Chaucer and Langland were more cheerful. Another poet makes this the best time to talk about repeats - of which there are many sorts from 'O come, all ye faithful' (not for April) to the Hallelujah chorus, Taize and beyond. All I mean here is singing something twice.
This Sunday it was not the song slot, chorus time, or the space for some really deep worship. This was in the main flow of the service. The minister said 'As the hymn has only got two verses, we'll sing it twice'. Subdued murmur along the fifth row: 'Good job it's not God save the Queen.'
The murmurer implied a question. If the writer wanted four verses, why didn't she write them? There is a place for short hymns and she had admirably filled it. Until today, when it became medium-length. Sometimes long hymns become short, when 'Let's sing the first and last verses of number 146'. Even worse when we discover that's 'I'll praise my Maker while I've breath'; you can see why. But this is not my concern.
