I wrote this a long time ago ...

Joseph of Copertino
Presiding at his first Christmas Mass
he gave a small sob, a great cry,
rose into the air and began to fly.

The congregation was astonished.

Suspected of devil-worship
the dull-witted but extremely pious
monk flew for Pope Urban the Eighth,
Princess Marie of Savoy,
several Cardinals,
The Great Admiral of Castille
and Helen of Troy.

At an estimated height of four feet
he flew like a bird for all to see
and landed in an almond tree.

Even when the flying monk died
he hovered - or so it’s said -
a full palm's width above the bed.