Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
The Jordan and the Chao Praya
Rivers of healing
Upon which we send our prayers
And hopes: Loy Kathrong
Thursday, November 6, 2025
The Jordan and the Chao Praya - poem
Wednesday, October 29, 2025
A Sir Philip Sidney Moment with a Rubbish Bin, but not a Red Rubbish Bin - poem
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
A Sir Philip Sidney Moment
With a Rubbish Bin, but not a Red
Rubbish Bin
After
the passing of afternoon storms
A
quiet moment of reflection at dusk
Our
Lady Moon shone high above the trees
Sailing
among the last sun-glowing clouds
I
addressed the Moon as the goddess she is
Speaking
of dreams, and asked her to pray for me
But
suddenly she danced behind the mist
In
playful teasing, or in stern disapproval
Perhaps
one should not address our Lady Moon
While
rolling household garbage to the end of the lane
Sir Philip Sidney, “Astrophel and Stella 31”
William Carlos Williams, “The Red Wheelbarrow”
Saturday, October 25, 2025
Where are the Frogs of Spring? - poem
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
Where are the Frogs of Spring?
-as John Keats never said
Ay, where are they? This October is summer-sour
And drowsy frogs are singing out for rain
Croakery-croaking sadly by the hour
Invoking God for a shower, but still in vain
The grass is withered and sere, the ground is dust
Bees gather ‘round each desiccated bloom
Seeking nectar but finding only crust
For their colony-hive on the cusp of doom
Where are the rains of October, then –
And the frosts? Ay, where are they? Where, and when?
We Need to Talk - poem
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
We Need to Talk
When
a woman says, “we need to talk”
A man’s
complexion pales; he begins to sweat
His
spine of stern chilled steel becomes chilled mush
As
he examines his conscience in anticipation of doom
Her
talk will not be of puppies or cups of tea
Or
how the flowers are bedded in for autumn
Of
the curious news from the Bering Strait
Nor
yet of ships or sealing wax or kings
Oh,
no – “we need to talk” means that he will be silent
As she
posts to the docket his most recent crimes
Line 8 – cf. Lewis, Carroll, “The Walrus and the Carpenter”
How Many Languages of Happiness Do You Speak? - poem
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
How Many Languages of Happiness Do You Speak?
In how many languages, then, do you
Sing
Sigh
Whisper
Breathe
Work
Love
Dream
Hope
Laugh
Comfort
And sometimes chide
I want to hear all of them from you
(Except maybe the chide)
Oops! I Forgot to Attend the Revolution - poem
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
Oops - I Forgot to Attend the Revolution
From an idea by Scarlet
You haven’t
yet received your check from George?
I
would have thought that his Dark Web of Power
Would
have been more efficient than that
But
getting good spies is so difficult these days
Did
I mention that he was by the house on Friday?
We
sat on the lawn with drinks and cigars
Counting
the autumn fireflies flickering at dusk
I
guess his plan for world domination slipped his mind
As
for me, I simply forgot to attend the Revolution -
I
was distracted by the adorable new kittens
Louvre Robbed in Broad Daylight - a question
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
“Louvre Robbed in Broad Daylight”
-news item
One wonders if there is any narrow daylight.
A Classmate's Noisy Little Sister - poem
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
A Classmate’s Noisy Little Sister
"The old order changeth, yielding
place to new,
And God fulfils Himself in many ways…”
-Tennyson, Idylls of the King
When
she was a child
An
assignment in one of her high school classes
Was
to write to one of Our Brave Boys somewhere
Section
8 of Article I was being ignored
And
she chose me, which made me feel special
Which
is irrelevant; her funeral is tomorrow
Her
son, a fine young man, cried as he hugged me
A
father himself, a citizen of dignity and honor
For
the moment a little boy who couldn’t find his mom
As
her family assembled to pray her farewell
She
did good
And
so may you
And
so may we all
DO NOT TAKE PICTURES OF THE TRANSPARENT DESTRUCTION! - poem (of a sort)
Lawrence
Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
DO NOT TAKE PICTURES OF THE TRANSPARENT DESTRUCTION!
Macbeth
to the witches:
How now, you secret,
black, and midnight hags.
A deed
without a name.
-Macbeth IV.i.48-50
Bricks,
freedom, columns, windows that let in light, old trees that shaded the lawns, dignity,
decency, mercy, kindness, self-discipline, honor, precedents ancient and
modern, protections, chapters and verses, the majesty of the law, literature,
music, art, dining with utensils, logic, education, good taste – all must go DO
NOT TAKE PICTURES
Wreckers
guide steel treads
DO NOT TAKE PICTURES Over fragments of Amendment V
Trenchers
rip the
heart DO NOT TAKE PICTURES out
of Amendment IV
Excavators
heave Amendment XXII
DO NOT TAKE PICTURES
into garbage skips
Cranes
stack bits of Amendment VI against a chain link fence
DO NOT TAKE PICTURES
And at
dusk a fire, a big, beautiful fire, chantings and clenched fists while tokens
of the freedom to disagree, freedom from a government religion, freedom to
choose one’s own books, and freedom from fear rise as flame and fire and smoke,
and The People wave their made-in-China gift-shop bibles with the words of Our
Leader printed in red and sing along to the musical stylings of Horst Wessel.
BUT DO NOT TAKE PICTURES
You are the Poet and the Poem - poem
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
You are the Poet and the Poem
You
are the poem and the poet
Without
you the sun could not rise
Bringing
light for the flowers
And
warmth to bless this happy land
There's Husbandry in Heaven - Lawrence Hall
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
“There’s Husbandry in Heaven”
“…There’s husbandry in heaven;
Their candles are all out...”
-Macbeth II.i.6-7
Good folk will tend to see the good in all -
When Banquo was aware of the starless night
He saw in that not a lack of light
But rather the careful conservation of light
And so we see this night, this rainy night
Not as a time of cold and darkness and damp
But an occasion for hearth-gathering the family
For cards, chess, read-alouds, blankies, warmth, peace
Good folk will tend to see the good in all
And good must then on all of us befall
Saturday, October 18, 2025
Who is My Favorite Hero? - poem
Lawrence
Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
Who is My Favorite Hero?
Do you now,
or have you ever…
Worked double
shifts or double jobs to pay the bills
Read to your
children instead of yelling at them
Had to
jump-start your car in the pre-dawn cold
Jump-started
your neighbor’s car in the pre-dawn cold
Do you now,
or have you ever…
Done some
hard time in the military
Served in the
volunteer fire department
Attended
divine services without making a fuss
Milked cows,
chopped wood, raised a garden
Know which
end of a hammer hits the nail
Built a home
library for your children and yourself
Set a daily
study schedule for developing your mind
Raised your
children after your spouse bugged out
Do you now,
or have you ever…
Gone to work zero-dark-early
and stayed there late
And did more
than was expected of you
Taken your
children on nature works
Volunteered
at your local hospital
Of course you
have
So who is my
favorite hero?
You are
Stop Running - poem
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
Stop Running
1 Kings 19
Stop searching. Hold still
Rest now under a broom tree
And He will find you
Friday, October 17, 2025
About Your Poem - poem
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
About Your Poem
If
you send a poem, and only one or two read it
And
no one ticks a box or writes a response
Then
have you worked a positive good into the world?
Oh,
yes!
For
you have written a verse upon a page
Upon
a leaf that sails upon the air
Upon
wild solar winds and to the stars
To
where
A
Voice reads it as a love letter to all
Who
are so very blessed in knowing you
Macbeth Will Have No Say About It - poem
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
Macbeth Will Have No Say About It
Light thickens; and the crow
Makes wing to the rooky wood:
Good things of day begin to droop and drowse
-Macbeth III.ii.50-52
Finishing the chores as the evening light fails
And high above me in the paling blue
Three crows calling out harshly as they soar
Indeed making wing to a rooky wood
Good things of day, good animals, in peace
Are safely penned in their barns and byres
And we marvel at god’s kindness in all things
A warm fire, lanternlight, supper, blessings
Let us hear nothing of the tyrant’s foul plans
But instead, happy stories, Evensong, then sleep
About NO KINGS DAY - doggerel
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
About NO KINGS DAY
“The King’s under the
law, for it’s the law that makes him a King.”
― C.S. Lewis, The
Horse and His Boy
Thus we
need not worry about such a thing
As our proud
president wanting to be a king
Thursday, October 16, 2025
The Ruby-Throated Grand Scheme of Things - poem
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
The Ruby-Throated Grand Scheme of Things
The last hummingbird of the season, perhaps,
A tail-end Charlie, this mid-October pilgrim
Stopping a moment at the dollar-store feeder
On El Camino Real to Mexico
To what king will this royal messenger report?
His legions of the air and summer flowers
Are gathering in from all over the Americas
To winter in mysterious valleys and hidden fields
L’envoi:
We can’t know where your long journey will end
But God speed you as you fly with the wind, little friend
Sunday, October 12, 2025
Dawn Across the Planet - short poem
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
Dawn Across the Planet
Soon
you will be awake for breakfast and tea
A
good cup of tea for beginning the day
As
the waning Harvest Moon sails west
And
you and the sun rise happily in the east
Forgive Me for not Writing Yesterday - poem
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
Forgive Me for not Writing Yesterday
I
was reclined before a bin of farriers’ tools
Ironmongery
smithied in shining steel
In a
room shaded institutional green
Fluorescent
lights, only one door
Gadgets
clipped to me, needles poked into me
Surely
soon would sound the voice of Number Two:
“Information.
We want information.”
Thinking
of pain, then poetry, then you
But
having a dying tooth extracted
Does
not lend itself to metre or rhyme!
She Thinks My Tractor's Schleppy - poem
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
She Thinks My Tractor’s Schleppy
Anyone who can hear “She thinks my tractor’s sexy”
With a teary eye of sentimentality
For a lost golden age of rural life
Da*ned sure didn't grow up on a farm
Cf. Kenny Chesney, “She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy,” lyrics by Jim Collins and Paul Overstreet.
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