Lawrence Hall
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                  ­            “Remarkably Like Any Other Place”

                                                     For Tod

                                        Who is in assisted living
                                        Assisting others in living

Rich: This is an awful place.

More: Except it’s keeping me from you, my dears, it’s not so bad. Remarkably like any other place.

Alice: It drips!

More: Yes. Too near the river.

                         -Robert Bolt, A Man for All Seasons

Life is a pilgrimage from cell to cell:
The bedroom of one’s childhood, the college dorm
The noisy barracks, merry in spite of all
Eighty conscript soldiers bunked out in rows

The marriage home set forth among trees and grass
A comfortable chair with a lamp and books
The office with its official desks and files
And Sunday liturgies in an accustomed pew

All these are now condensed into a cell
Where God has chosen to live and wait with you