Lawrence Hall HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

                            The God of Children and Blueberries

    For Theo (who is three today) and Nora (who is more than three)

                           “It is eaten, and renewed, every day.”

      -Ramandu’s daughter in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

God is prodigal with his seasons and feasts -
This is the season of blueberries, each day a feast
Great clouds of fat blue globes hang upon the little trees
Water and sky shading into Prussian blue

This is a table-tree, all are invited
To stand with buckets and thirsty lips
To pick and take, to take and eat, each day
The feast magically renewed each dawn

Mockingbirds, robins, sparrows, rabbits, and squirrels

And children

Picking, pecking, plucking, nibbling, biting

All at Aslan’s Table, and all at peace

Lawrence Hall HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

                            From Shakespeare: Mourn for Me

                                  Cf. Shakespeare’s Sonnet 71

In the event I hope you’ll mourn for me
And remember those cups of coffee at the Greasy Spoon
Our walks across the fields where rabbits played
Our magic moonlit kisses on frosty nights

In the event I hope you’ll pray for me
Light votive candles and whisper gentle prayers
Slip beads through your fingers with Aves on your lips
Sing Masses of remembrance on our festal days

In the event I know you’ll come to me
Because we were, we are, and we will be

Lawrence Hall HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com


                               A Congressssssional Hearing


               “But hiss for hiss return’d with forked tongue”

                                   -Paradise Lost, X.518


Men in nice suits meet in air-conditioned luxury
Ties perfectly knotted, Cain’s mark on their lapels
Enthroned behind paneled tables of polished oak
Where by the magic of a secular oath, all are honorables

There is a chair, who is a man, not a chair
Who wields an oaken gavel of authority
As he smiles benignly and modestly
An ‘umble adornment to the Republic

Then “bash!” goes the gavel, and yelling begins
And no one seems to know why

Lawrence Hall HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

                     From Shakespeare: You Will Not be Blamed

                                Cf. Shakespeare’s Sonnet 70

You are so beautiful; you are so good
Twin attributes given to you at birth
Sustained by you in dignity and grace
As you have grown into a woman’s estate

Be careful! You will be envied for those truths
Envied by some for your transient beauty
Envied by others for your transcendent good
Envied by the envious for their own failings

In the end your reputation cannot be harmed
For you are the queen of all hearts charmed

Lawrence Hall HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com


                        A D-Day Reminder to Every Neo-**** Oaf

                         Including certain Members of Congress
                           and Justices of the Supreme Court


                                      There is poetry in this:

     Our American flag was not flown upside-down at Normandy

Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

One Supposes That a Red Wheel Adds a Festive Touch to a Barrow


Anyone who takes that

Red wheel

Barrow

Seriously

Need not be taken seriously

Lawrence Hall HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

                                   A Harvester of Praise

                              Cf. Shakespeare’s Sonnet 69

You taught us
Put not your trust in oozy flatterers
Who tell you only what you want to hear
And nothing about what you need to know
Adorning yourself with your own press releases

And as you taught us
Your thoughts, your words, your speech were ever strong
You stood upon the lessons you had learned
With wisdom and kindness you taught hard truth
And with truth found beauty in everything

But then you stopped
You were an artist and scholar in your younger days
But now you are only a harvester of praise