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Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

                                     A Russian Christmas Card

                                            For Tod and Max

I allowed the time, the year, the day to slip
And so I can only imagine a card for you
A Russian Christmas card in paper and paints
Of Christmas scenes from a happy golden time:

And let there be small children in furry boots
Dragging a little fir tree over the snow
Among artistically disposed squirrels and deer
To the delight of Father Christmas and the sweet Snow Queen

And let there be Saint Michael’s at the end of the lane
Its ancient bell ringing the ancient joys
While ancient stars and humble cottage windows
Give light to the faithful on their way to Mass

And let us be among them, as God will allow
Before the Theotokos and Child, kneeling now

Happy Orthodox Christmas, dear friends!
Lawrence Hall Apr 2019
Happy Easter / Pascha to a Russian Orthodox Friend

What sort of man sits in the silent dark
And waits for a small candle to be lit
When he could reach over and flip a switch
For the miracle of electricity

Bravely to course through the building’s wired veins
The march of progress with a touch controlled
By the hand of humanity triumphant
Over Byzantine superstition. Tell us:

What hopeful sort of man waits for the dawn,
For Light to appear from a cold, sealed tomb?
Your ‘umble scrivener’s site is:
Reactionarydrivel.blogspot.com.
It’s not at all reactionary, tho’ it might be drivel.

Lawrence Hall’s vanity publications are available on amazon.com as Kindle and on bits of dead tree:  The Road to Magdalena, Paleo-Hippies at Work and Play, Lady with a Dead Turtle, Don’t Forget Your Shoes and Grapes, Coffee and a Dead Alligator to Go, and Dispatches from the Colonial Office.

— The End —