The little bird in the church is an amusing poem, commonly attributed to the famous Roman poet Trilussa.
It is probably the Italian version of an old Roman sonnet by a lesser known poet called Natale Polci, whose title was “Er passero ferito”.
Below is an “Italianized” version and then translated into English:
It was August and a poor little bird,
injured by the slingshot of a boy
went to the open window of a church
to rest the wounded wing.
From the curtains of the confessional
the parish priest glimpses the animal
but obliged by the ministry
remained intent on confessing to people
While some of the faithful were saying their prayers,
some kneeling, some sitting,
a woman, noticed the little bird,
He took it to the heat and put it to his chest.
Suddenly a chirp broke the silence
and the priest to that noise
the role abandoned confessing
and with a face darker than pitch
climbed up the pulpit and then did:
“Brothers, who has the bird, please,
go out of the Lord’s temple“
The males, a little astonished at those words,
slowly got up to get out
but the priest who understood the error of his sentence shouted:
“Stop! I expressed myself badly,
Come back, everyone, and listen to me;
only the one who took the bird has to go out!“
Head down with the crown in hand
one hundred women get up slowly
but as they were leaving
And so the parish priest shouted:
“Wrong again, beloved daughters,
all returned,
I didn’t want to say what you think.
That’s it! what I said I’m going to say again,
only whoever took the bird has to go out
but, I turn only to those who took the bird in the church“.
He finished the sentence and at the same time
the nuns all stood up
and with the face, full of redness, they left the house of the Lord.
“O Holy Virgin” exclaimed the good priest,
“Do me the grace if you can“.
Then he added:
“Without making noise, I say, slowly, only those who have their dicks in their hands rise“.
A girl who with her boyfriend
had put herself in a secluded corner
he murmured, quiet and with a dull face:
“What did I tell you? You saw, he noticed!“.