The Strange Building

And great was the multitude that did enter into that
strange building.

First Nephi. Chapter Eight. Verse 33.

I passed a building on my way to life’s heroic deeds;

Twas made of marble and of gold amidst a field of weeds.

I’d never seen the like before, and stopped to take it in.

The strangeness of the place did pucker up my chilly skin.

Strange and great and beckoning, the building seemed to me.

I thought I saw the shades of people down through history.

They smiled and nodded gaily, but their smiles were a facade.

Their gaiety was brittle, since they had no use for God.

Their clothes were of the finest, while my coat was patched and bare.

Those strange folk in the building hinted they’d be glad to share.

I took a step for closer view, and smelled a heady feast;

With honeyed meats and ripened fruit and drinks made sharp with yeast.

But underneath the savor of refinement and delight

I sensed a dark foreboding, darker than the savage night.

And when I took a step away, their smiles turned into rage.

They shook their window bars -- for that strange building was a cage!

I left that building far behind as I trudged on my way.

And yet the image lingers in my mind unto this day.

Strange buildings now proliferate; like Babylon of old,

They lure unwary strangers into prisons made of gold.