A Midnight Appointment of Shame - poem

 

Lawrence Hall

Mhall46184@aol.com

https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/

poeticdrivel.blogspot.com

 

A Midnight Appointment of Shame

 

“Where greed is an ape and pride is an ass”

 

-Chesterton, The Ballad of the White Horse

 

You poor man –

 

You are not the first to use Truth as a spade

With which to dig for yourself mouth-honors and wealth

A tyrant piped, and now you dance for him

His toy, his poppet, his puppet, his pet

 

You poor man –

 

Who pottage-messed stout honesty for toys

To descend in a brazen elevator

To an evil that didn’t even have to try

For you were so eager to go to it

 

You poor man –

 

You poor, poor man: the cock will not crow for you -

You have betrayed only your wretched self

 

 

https:///www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Appoint the Following Individuals to Key Administration Posts | The White House-120320/

A Celebration of Water-Hose Clamps - poem

Lawrence Hall
mhall46184@aol.com
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com

A Celebration of Water-Hose Clamps

“If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”

― Cicero 1

Poets have been mysteriously silent 2
On the subject of water-hose clamps
Small cylinders or rings, threaded for compression
In mending or nozzling a garden hose

Thus if you have a clamp, you have a hose
In need of mending, and if you have a hose
You have a garden in need of watering
And if you have a garden, you are much blest

And in your garden you can drowse over a book
While meditating upon water-hose clamps


1 http://perseus.uchicago.edu/perseus-cgi/citequery3.pl?dbname=PerseusLatinTexts&getid=1&query=Cic.%20Fam.%209.4

2 https://www.quora.com/What-did-G-K-Chesterton-mean-by-poets-have-been-mysteriously-silent-on-the-subject-of-cheese?share=1

The Danelaw

Lawrence Hall

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

The Danelaw

 

The ancient usages of Holy Church

Are hidden in dark marshes with the King 

The Eucharist is fallen into the ash

And all the sacred vessels - they are lost

The holy Chalice is but a cup for mead

The Paten a love-offering for a dancing girl

The vestments coverings for snoring Danes

The burnt Mass-book a mystery of smoke:

But Christus semper vivat, and quickens still

The ancient usages of Holy Church

 

While reading GKC’s Ballad of the White Horse.  I extend this as a modern metaphor.