Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

                                 Algebra is not in the Bible

Jesus never said unto us, “Solve for X”
If algebra were real, the apostolic succession
Of bishops would have told us about it
(After 2,000 years of committee meetings)

I miss Bob Newhart

Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

               You are One of Civilization’s Quiet Contemplatives


                   I send Love’s name into the world with wings

                                 -Thomas Merton, “A Psalm”


Into your pocket you slip a volume of verse
To feel and smell and breathe the words of others
And paper and pen are ready to your hand
To limn an errant dream as it whispers by

You take a roadside turning known only to you
Recusing yourself from busy-ness for awhile
To sigh upon a grassy bank and simply be
And rescue civilization from itself

With words you embrace the entirety of life
(But don’t forget your British Army Knife)

Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

                                 Still Listening to the Warm

Rod McKuen was the coolest of the cool
And now he’s not
Which makes him warmer than ever
On the pencil-marked pages of our youth

"Listen to the Warm" is still good advice

Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

                               Lemons and the Divine Ekonomia

My neighbor has a lemon tree
He gives me lemons
And I too have a lemon tree
I give him lemons

This is not economy
This is Ekonomia

It is divine

Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

                                   Politics and the Public Square

Oh, yes, we know about the public square -
That’s where the Enlightenment works the guillotine
That’s where sensitive progressives ****** Jews
And constitutionalists ******* the Constitution

Oh, yes, we know about the public square -
That’s where those who kiss dictators deny the King
That’s where individualists join in mobs
And the last few children are hunted down and killed

Oh, yes, we know about the public square –
Where the screams of the dying poison the air

Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

                  A Treatise on the Burrowing Habits of Dachshunds


                                                   in memory of

                                     Astrid-the-Wonder-Dachshund

                six pounds of barking, yapping, demanding, and love


A dachshund will burrow under the garden fence
For every dachshund thinks she is a wolf
A fearsome apex predator with a squeaky toy -
This is in the nature of dachshunds

A dachshund will burrow into your tightly-closed hand
Nosing out the doggie treat you have hidden there
A fearsome apex predator and omnivore -
This is in the nature of dachshunds

A dachshund will burrow into your end-of-day lap
Watching both the television and the cats
A fearsome apex predator drooling on your book -
This is in the nature of dachshunds

A dachshund will burrow, borrow, beg, and bark
And in her foreshadowing of that better World to come
A dachshund will burrow deeply into your heart -
And love you forever

This is in the nature of dachshunds

And of you

Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

                         I’m Gonna Tell Santa Claus on You!

                                            Nora and Theo

The children scamper across my grassy lawn
And bring me wiggly worms to identify
Big acorns to admire, lemons fallen weeks before
Sticks and leaves, pinecones, flowers, and bits of bark

They lose their shoes and socks beneath the oak
They drink from the water hose and don’t turn it off
They chase the dog and the dog chases them
They shriek out joyfully because they can

I growl that if I mow another bit of brick
I’m gonna tell ol’ Santa Claus on them

They laugh at me, and bring me another worm