Fun? On Ash Wednesday?

Not all Lenten music need be somber. Some find joy in their mourning: A few years ago a friend of mine sent me these lyrics, which can be sung to the tune of “These Are a Few of My Favorite Things.”

Sackcloth and ashes and days without eating,
Mortification and wailing and weeping,
A hair shirt that scratches, a nettle that stings –
These are a few of my favorite things!

Penitence, flagellants, memento mori,
Spending nights sleeping on rocks in a quarry,
The sound of a cloaked solemn cantor who sings –
These are still more of my favorite things!

Tossing and turning and yearning, I’m spurning!
Passions aflame like an ember-day burning,
Corpus and carnis and wild drunken flings –
Forsaken are they for my favorite things!

When it’s Christmas,
When the tree’s lit,
When the cards are sent…
I simply remember my favorite things –
And then I can’t waaaaaaaaait ’til Lent!