Making Things Work

The cardinal's infraction, venial
While more than standard (and when he was young),
Was yet somehow remembered, as it stung:
"You told us," they averred, "that Sweeney'll
Make things work; he was not congenial,
And though the words came tripping off your tongue
His answer was a rippling snake among
Us pigeons, and he called us menial."

That myocardial infarction hit
And changed the way we measured everything,
So when old Sweeney's ass began to sing
They whistled right along, told him to sit
And had the cardinal sit, too. One wit
Claimed that the Lord's voice had been thundering.