the indifferent blue,
the remnants of love.

the warm and longing eyes
once wide with wonder
now so cruel

because time is cruel

when love drifts down slowly
like fog and then dissipates.

have you ever ridden
the pale horse of death,
sought relief in madness or love,
and so reached for the sky
hoping for a miracle?

a hand to hold, a bed to share,

only the lonely feel the quiet ache
of one shadow falling on snow.

You will meet
people
in life who
love to keep score.
"I've done this for you, so
you should do that for me."
They keep a mental ledger.
They're pathetic.
Nothing is ever done out of
the goodness of their heart.
Their mind clicks with
records and accounts.
They are slaves to the
almighty penny.
Nothing you do will
ever
count anyway.
You're always in
the red.

my mother in law
lies on a gurney in a corridor
waiting for a bed
a limbo
between treatment and death
either way
the corridor clears
for the next contestant

Lawrence Hall
Mhall46184@aol.com
Dispatches for the Colonial Office

                          An Eleventh Commandment Falls Upon Us
                            From the Government Religion in Austin


           “Schools not enjoined by ongoing litigation must abide by  
            S.B. 10 and display the Ten Commandments.”

                           -Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton
                                           25 August 2025


          “It denies us the right of worshipping the Almighty according
           to the dictates of our own conscience, by the support of a
           national religion…”

                              -Texas Declaration of Independence
                                               2 March 1836


Our attorney general elects himself God
And imposes upon us his government church  
To rule us, perhaps, by a religion squad
Subjecting us all to seizure and search

For under his high-tech inquisition
One’s conscience must obey his moods and rages
This Torquemada on his punitive mission
He’ll ponder our punishment – maybe the cages?

Our attorney general elects himself God
And Texans famous for freedom submit to his rod