{"id":23969,"date":"2016-01-15T15:07:17","date_gmt":"2016-01-15T20:07:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/?p=23969"},"modified":"2019-01-07T16:06:14","modified_gmt":"2019-01-07T22:06:14","slug":"the-song-of-the-strange-ascetic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/the-song-of-the-strange-ascetic\/","title":{"rendered":"The Song of the Strange Ascetic"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If I had been a Heathen,<br \/>\nI&#8217;d have praised the purple vine,<br \/>\nMy slaves should dig the vineyards,<br \/>\nAnd I would drink the wine.<br \/>\nBut Higgins is a Heathen,<br \/>\nAnd his slaves grow lean and grey,<br \/>\nThat he may drink some tepid milk<br \/>\nExactly twice a day.<\/p>\n<p>If I had been a Heathen,<br \/>\nI&#8217;d have crowned Neaera&#8217;s curls,<br \/>\nAnd filled my life with love affairs,<br \/>\nMy house with dancing girls;<br \/>\nBut Higgins is a Heathen,<br \/>\nAnd to lecture rooms is forced,<br \/>\nWhere his aunts, who are not married,<br \/>\nDemand to be divorced.<\/p>\n<p>If I had been a Heathen,<br \/>\nI&#8217;d have sent my armies forth,<br \/>\nAnd dragged behind my chariots<br \/>\nThe Chieftains of the North.<br \/>\nBut Higgins is a Heathen,<br \/>\nAnd he drives the dreary quill,<br \/>\nTo lend the poor that funny cash<br \/>\nThat makes them poorer still.<\/p>\n<p>If I had been a Heathen,<br \/>\nI&#8217;d have piled my pyre on high,<br \/>\nAnd in a great red whirlwind<br \/>\nGone roaring to the sky;<br \/>\nBut Higgins is a Heathen,<br \/>\nAnd a richer man than I:<br \/>\nAnd they put him in an oven,<br \/>\nJust as if he were a pie.<\/p>\n<p>Now who that runs can read it,<br \/>\nThe riddle that I write,<br \/>\nOf why this poor old sinner,<br \/>\nShould sin without delight-<br \/>\nBut I, I cannot read it<br \/>\n(Although I run and run),<br \/>\nOf them that do not have the faith,<br \/>\nAnd will not have the fun.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chesterton can&#8217;t understand the heathen who isn&#8217;t even having any fun<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[143],"tags":[1637,588,1639,1638],"class_list":["post-23969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-poet","tag-ascetic","tag-christianity","tag-heathen","tag-strange"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Song of the Strange Ascetic - Store | Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/the-song-of-the-strange-ascetic\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Song of the Strange Ascetic - Store | Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Chesterton can&#039;t understand the heathen who isn&#039;t even having any fun\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/the-song-of-the-strange-ascetic\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Store | Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanChestertonSociety\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-01-15T20:07:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-01-07T22:06:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"G.K. Chesterton\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"G.K. Chesterton\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/the-song-of-the-strange-ascetic\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/the-song-of-the-strange-ascetic\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"G.K. Chesterton\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4b5de489994093e55032f9f01cfee114\"},\"headline\":\"The Song of the Strange Ascetic\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-01-15T20:07:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-01-07T22:06:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/the-song-of-the-strange-ascetic\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":244,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Ascetic\",\"Christianity\",\"Heathen\",\"strange\"],\"articleSection\":[\"The Poet\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/the-song-of-the-strange-ascetic\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/the-song-of-the-strange-ascetic\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/the-song-of-the-strange-ascetic\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Song of the Strange Ascetic - Store | Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-01-15T20:07:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-01-07T22:06:14+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/the-song-of-the-strange-ascetic\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/the-song-of-the-strange-ascetic\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/the-song-of-the-strange-ascetic\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Song of the Strange Ascetic\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/\",\"name\":\"Store | Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton\",\"description\":\"Apostolate of Common Sense\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"American Chesterton Society\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/11\\\/cropped-Chesterton_Seal_Navy-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/11\\\/cropped-Chesterton_Seal_Navy-1.png\",\"width\":\"1181\",\"height\":\"1174\",\"caption\":\"American Chesterton Society\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/AmericanChestertonSociety\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/AmChestertonSoc\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4b5de489994093e55032f9f01cfee114\",\"name\":\"G.K. Chesterton\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/994493afe28e9841cd6b1d3f7e8655e8cbb9f4583f579fb25963690dc8e39853?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/994493afe28e9841cd6b1d3f7e8655e8cbb9f4583f579fb25963690dc8e39853?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/994493afe28e9841cd6b1d3f7e8655e8cbb9f4583f579fb25963690dc8e39853?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"G.K. Chesterton\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/author\\\/unclechestnut\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Song of the Strange Ascetic - Store | Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/the-song-of-the-strange-ascetic\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Song of the Strange Ascetic - Store | Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton","og_description":"Chesterton can't understand the heathen who isn't even having any fun","og_url":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/the-song-of-the-strange-ascetic\/","og_site_name":"Store | Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanChestertonSociety\/","article_published_time":"2016-01-15T20:07:17+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-01-07T22:06:14+00:00","author":"G.K. Chesterton","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"G.K. Chesterton","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/the-song-of-the-strange-ascetic\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/the-song-of-the-strange-ascetic\/"},"author":{"name":"G.K. Chesterton","@id":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/#\/schema\/person\/4b5de489994093e55032f9f01cfee114"},"headline":"The Song of the Strange Ascetic","datePublished":"2016-01-15T20:07:17+00:00","dateModified":"2019-01-07T22:06:14+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/the-song-of-the-strange-ascetic\/"},"wordCount":244,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/#organization"},"keywords":["Ascetic","Christianity","Heathen","strange"],"articleSection":["The Poet"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/the-song-of-the-strange-ascetic\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/the-song-of-the-strange-ascetic\/","url":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/the-song-of-the-strange-ascetic\/","name":"The Song of the Strange Ascetic - Store | Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-01-15T20:07:17+00:00","dateModified":"2019-01-07T22:06:14+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/the-song-of-the-strange-ascetic\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/the-song-of-the-strange-ascetic\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/the-song-of-the-strange-ascetic\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Song of the Strange Ascetic"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/","name":"Store | Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton","description":"Apostolate of Common Sense","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/#organization","name":"American Chesterton Society","url":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/cropped-Chesterton_Seal_Navy-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/cropped-Chesterton_Seal_Navy-1.png","width":"1181","height":"1174","caption":"American Chesterton Society"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanChestertonSociety\/","https:\/\/x.com\/AmChestertonSoc"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/#\/schema\/person\/4b5de489994093e55032f9f01cfee114","name":"G.K. Chesterton","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/994493afe28e9841cd6b1d3f7e8655e8cbb9f4583f579fb25963690dc8e39853?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/994493afe28e9841cd6b1d3f7e8655e8cbb9f4583f579fb25963690dc8e39853?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/994493afe28e9841cd6b1d3f7e8655e8cbb9f4583f579fb25963690dc8e39853?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"G.K. Chesterton"},"url":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/author\/unclechestnut\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23969\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}