‘Quids Pro Quo’ and Other Poetry by Lynn Veach Sadler

Quids Pro Quo

Does beauty matter?  You, of all, know why:
it skirts the edge of my and your decay.
It brings at once both smile and knowing sigh.
Yes, beauty—ever—has its own cachet.
In beauty’s lap, perfection likely seems—
redeems lost Eden, sheds the rose’s thorns,
lets us believe that God’s pure grace still streams,
makes all sunrises glorious good morns.

We beauty know upon the instant seen—
face, flower, form, or flow—whate’er the thing.
A welling up of joy allaying spleen,
an afterglow of joy that still will cling.
Intensity of feeling, afterglow—
yes, Beauty, beauty matters:  quids pro quo.

Love’s Offshoot

Mom claims I wear Dad’s genes upon my sleeve.
Dad says, “Your son has sweetness but no light.
Your nurturing has just made him uptight!”

The argument comes up each New Year’s Eve.
My every resolution will aggrieve
my mom or dad.  I cannot get one right.
Both parents rush to feel my stinging slight.
No matter what I say, they misconceive.

“Don’t worry, Mom.  I promise not to cry.”
“You will, Soft Son, you wear your father’s brand!”
“Now, listen, Dad, I pledge to be laid back.”
“No, her Southland background has made you shy!”

“Don’t you blame me!  I have no shyness gland!”
“I’m nature—nurture, too!  Cut me some slack!”

Plea for Poets

Archangel Raphael, Miltonic style:
historian divine of Paradise
ere lost.  He views Edenic domicile,
excuses Eve her table to bespice.
He’s messenger by God (and Milton) sent
to give to man in Adam all the word
he’d need, Satanic wiles to circumvent.

Then why angelic words as though unheard?
Was Raphael too affable, too kind?
“God’s Medicine” was sent to speak as friend,
could blush, eat human food, read human mind.
Too sociable?  He came six-winged Godsend!

Oh, would new Miltons so invoke Godhead
that neither God nor verse can pass for dead!

Widely published in academic and creative writing, former college president Dr. Lynn Veach Sadler has eight poetry chapbooks and four full-length collections and over 100 short stories published.  She has published a novel, novella, and short story collection; has several novels forthcoming; and has written 40 plays. 

These poems are among the entries for the Society of Classical Poets’ 2012 Poetry Competition.