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Rose L Apr 2018
The devout of Saint Sophia, the ones who prayed
Venerated, ******-martyr, holy hunger
The priestesses, vestal tombs. Virgins of Etrusca
What do they know of me?
Waifish, heart-sad, victim of ill womanhood
Persecutor, rejector of the womb,
Denier of her blood.
Qualyxian Quest Apr 2019
I don’t deny delusions
not all who claim do see

but I do perceive the love drops
come from the Cosmic Tree

I ask not for perfection
far less for certainty

just adventure, moonlight, sunlight
music’s mystery

despite my fears and failings
Mother Mary, Let it Be!
On one side of Alexander Palace Papa stroked
his coiffed whiskers, pacing back and forth
in his simple study.

Ikons and photographs of family
Watched him all waiting in anticipation
for the news.

On the opposite side of the palace, Mama clenched
her dainty jaws, tears of joy and pain
streamed down her face.

Grigori led the Monks in chant, murmuring
prayers to the Theotokos, asking for protection
and health for the imp-child.

The imperial sheets matched the mauve room.
The resurrection child was born.

The news reached Papa thirty minutes later.
Disappointed in her grandiose arrival,
he delayed their first meeting.

The parade outside the palace
Dispersed, they too disappointed.
Lawrence Hall Dec 2018
“…and looking at a picture on the opposite wall.”

                          -C. S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Ikons are windows to another World
Of Theos and Theotokos, of our saints
Some as merry as yet are others stern
While forming from the prayerful writer’s 1 hand

And in the saints the Light of God shines through
True witnesses to that transcendental Truth
And so we pause and with a candle catch
The prayer-light of their eternity

(As does the bedes-spider 2 who lives there)
Ikons are windows to that truer World


1 In Orthodoxy an ikon is said to be written rather than drawn or painted, but y’r ‘umble scrivener is no authority; the reader might begin a study of ikons / icons with:

http://www.pravmir.com/how-to-sep-up-an-icon-corner-at-home/

2 An Orthodox friend discovered that a spider had made its home among his ikons, and so in peace and hierarchical obedience the little creature served God as a sort of canon, or perhaps a bedes-spider, until its death.
"Brothers will fight one another
and **** one another.
Cousins will break peace
with one another.
The world will be a hard place to live in.

"…an age of the axe, an age of the sword,
an age of storms, an age of wolves.
Shields will be cloven."

Brothers fought one another
and killed one another.
Cousins broke peace
with one another.
The world was a hard place to live in.

But this is no battlefield of
gods and men
Nor triumph over fell beast
and the splitting of shields.

This is the exploding shell
down cobbled streets of old;
of thatched roofs ablaze,  
the ashen ruin of hearth and abode;
The weeping eye of Theotokos
in Ragnarǫk’s gaze.

Two decades before;
football on Christmas morn’.
'Stille Nacht' from the trench,
that soothing tune.

Giving of gifts and handshakes
And smiles in between,
When it first dawned upon you:
You were brothers.
Vǫluspá in the Poetic Edda details the mythological Norse end of the world; Verse 44 constitutes the introduction of my poem.
Qualyxian Quest Dec 2018
Maria! Maria!
I’m drawn to great art

Maria! Maria!
Theotokos my heart

Maria! Maria!
Please help with my vices

Maria! Maria!
In silence like spices

Maria! Maria!
Por favor me amor

Maria! Maria!
I need courage galore

Maria! Maria!
True like Jesu

Maria! Maria!
Steadfast for you
acacia Jun 2022
// INCOMPLETE THOUGHTS .............................. //

Christian monks express the human prevalaence of the ego well. Schema monks are "constantly dying on the cross as Christ did"; meaning they are constantly "fighting sin".

Sin: the ideals of sin being overindulgence. The same way the Stoics, that pre-dated Chrstians, and other 'ancient' ideals speak on the importance of controlling desires, "quieting the mind", "neutralizing the ego", so that one can remain "detached from the ego", in control of their thoughts, mind, emotions, etc.

I don't believe in "removing" the ego. I believe that as long as humans are alive, we have to deal with the ego. The ego being our identities, attachments, our perceptions, our ideas, our beliefs.

The "transcendence of the ego" does not only mean "not being arrogant or being too indulged or being too prideful", it means to neutralize the ego. On a daily basis, having control over the ego while simultaneously surrendering to nature and the world around you.

Inhale and exhale wu wei while carrying the cross of Christ; connect to Jiva-Atman. Contemplate Barbelo --> Sophia. The softener of hearts.
Lawrence Hall Aug 2017
A Letter from Ekaterinburg

Dormition of the Theotokos
1917

Dear Alexei,

We are enjoying a beautiful summer –
The days have been perfect ever since spring
Cooler mornings now, and that’s about it -
Nothing exciting ever happens here

How is the new government working out?
Some of the banknotes are overprinted
With vague slogans covering the Czar, but
Nothing exciting ever happens here

Petrograd must be exciting for you, but
Nothing exciting ever happens here.

Write soon,

-Mitya
Lawrence Hall Feb 2018
A Letter from Ekaterinburg

Dormition of the Theotokos
1917

Dear Alexei,

We are enjoying a beautiful summer –
The days have been perfect ever since spring
Cooler mornings now, and that’s about it -
Nothing exciting ever happens here

How is the new government working out?
Some of the banknotes are overprinted
With vague slogans covering the Czar, but
Nothing exciting ever happens here

Petrograd must be exciting for you, but
Nothing exciting ever happens here.

Write soon,

-Mitya
Lawrence Hall Aug 2019
"The Queen Stands..."

                                               -Psalm 45

The Queen stands at His right hand, arrayed in gold
The Queen is not ornamented in gold
The Queen is not decorated in gold
The Queen is not merely costumed in gold

The Queen is royally arrayed in gold
For She alone is the Theotokos
In Whose honor the sun is given to shine
Through Her, the Passage between worlds

The Light of the world is the Saviour indeed:
The Queen stands at His right hand, arrayed in gold

Cf:
Psalm 45
St. Gregory Palamas, Homily 38
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.
Qualyxian Quest May 2020
Mother Mary from my mother
Green with almond Asian eyes
Hail Mary, send us a surprise!
acacia Jun 2022
his flustered face as I pranced around the forest with my bre asts out and bouncing in the dark, damp wind of the forest: dark green tranced around us and a meekish boy-like smile on his face as he'd grasp my brea sts with his hands and stare at me with his earth-brown eyes, smiles in his eyes and with his eyes, the smell of the forest as I skip and bounce him deeper into this isolated place: wind, breeze, grass rustling and howling: birds leap around us in song, and I let my breas ts dance among the mints, junipers and pines: he laughs and bashfully turns red, wandering along with me in the peace and isolation of the dim, green, and resting forest: my kind of afternoon, all I can think is what a man I prance with, I spin with — near the end of our dance among the woods, he sighs that sigh again: that sigh of satisfaction, of happiness, of love: breathing love into the air around we, the air we breathing of love life boosting: I stoop into the chapel, getting on my knees in the middle of the floor, thanking the maker of Theotokos for this wonderful life and daily mind for we get: have, him, in me, with me: inside me — a smile and a lily pad and an African nymph and a Germanic druid
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!

— The End —