Culture

. Long the shadow that it casts, Christmas present, o’er our pasts. In its darkness made to bask, Mumbling carols through a mask. Oh, the distance we observe. No resistance, gone our nerve. Cowering in abject fear, We no longer gather near. Through the mail, gifts we exchange. Can it...

. Anno Domini 1348 ‘Tis thirteen months since those twelve ships of death Docked in Messina bearing vicious plague From the Black Sea. The fevers, rasping breath, The frightful buboes, tortured minds gone vague... The panic of the masses makes it worse. All kindness dies as fools seek sword or...

. The Burden of Truth Our founders feared and could foresee that politics might come to be far more intense than mere debate of means to best perpetuate the liberty they'd given birth unparalleled in all the earth, secured by selfless sacrifice of those becoming precious price. Thus, knowing pure...

  adapted from a Filipino folktale __Once, when the sun was at its height, A dragonfly thought she’d alight Upon a branch. The air was hot, And she fatigued. So, on that spot, Under the shade of foliage blessed, The dragonfly judged she would rest. __As with her wings she...

. The Night after Christmas You better not cry. “Deplorable” might be how best to putit, just to underscore the gravityof chores that border on depravity,begriming Santa’s uniform with soot. A chimney’s not an option for the Chosenif any other path is close at hand,and empty hearths are not the...

 . To miss the mark, to lose my way,to choose the dark, on Christmas Day. No star I see, no Virgin Birth.No joy for me, no peace on earth. But for a wretch like me He came,to fetch me from my sin and shame. So by His manger, now I...

. Wake up and raise the blinds, to see the light, The colors; hark, the carols, feel the cheers Emerging, from within this Holy Night. Hear choirs of hope, in spirit, ‘mid your plight, While you can’t see the star. Would one, in tears, Wake up and raise the blinds...

  Christmas trees and Christmas carols, Christmas lights and reindeer, too.Christmas cards and Christmas presents, wrapped with paper, bows and glue.Christmas bells and Christmas cookies, Christmas ornaments galore!Spending money—is this all that Christmas means?  Or is there more? Is that all that Christmas brings us? Things to buy and things to...

. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer---A Sonnet Poor Rudolph was a reindeer with a nose resembling a bulb of bright red hue. The other reindeer laughed and said, “It glows like Santa’s after knocking back a few.” They called him ‘Scarlet Schnozz’ and wouldn’t play or socialise with Rudolph till a...

X The play of the breeze brings the music of childhood, The tinkle of laughter as light and as clear As were our voices when singing in Wildwood The day before Christmas—the best time of year. The songs that we sang told of sleigh bells a-jingling, Snow-laden branches, and manger...

.   The hills that Joseph meditated on were black and just a bit like elephants, but if somehow they counterpointed dawn, there was no sign of its deliverance. “Beloved, my beloved, how?---and why!" Against her tenderly-appearing age, a crowd of raging thoughts must have cried out, though Joseph, being...

. “Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.” ---Albert Einstein If I put forth a single vaccine questionAbout a jab that’s whipped up in a flash,And ponder on my shot-or-not position,Why should my reputation hit the trash? I’m called an...

In This Post Christian Era “For he nil falsen no wight, dar I seye, That wol his herte al hoolly on him leye.” ---Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Love Unfeigned” In this post-Christian era I believe; In this New Age, where One who rules the stars Does in the Seventh House the...

. . The Rape of Lady Liberty In Memoriam: November 3, 2020 by Patrick Henry Redivivus They did the awful deed within the dark--- Brute men with beastly hearts, as black as coal, And blinded minds, like vicious dogs that bark Then bite the hand that fills their feeding bowl....

I set up my beloved theodolite And slowly, gently, aimed it at the moon, Then focused sharply on the lovely site, Which put its fragile eye piece well in tune. As always, it was truly great and thrilling; It tends at first to take away one’s breath. I’d even say...

. Still   “Many eyes go through the meadow,  but few see the flowers in it” ---Ralph Waldo Emerson  I aim and shoot with fierce alacrity   As artistry unfurls before my eyes  In all its charismatic clarity:  The  gauzy  glint of scudding dragonflies;A butterfly’s sartorial gaiety  Caught wafting in kaleidoscopic   skies.  I wonder at  God’s windfalls  on the wing  And...

  The corpses laid before your cast iron throne will never wake again. Their eyes alone accuse you from the veinous marble floor, but you dismiss their gaze and look once more to conquest: paring down the enemy, their slaughter sung by tongues of royalty, the footsteps of your soldiers...

The screen is life, The screen is king, The screen is now Our everything. The place we learn, The place we meet, The place we go When friends we greet. Our church on-line, Our school remote, Our office closed, Just emails wrote. What did they do In days long gone,...

. Dominion “No one but the enemy will tell you what the enemy is going to do.”  ---Orson Scott Card, Ender’s Game by Susan Jarvis Bryant Dominion is the despot’s aim Employed to zip loose lips and tame All sovereign thought then render blind The eye of the enlightened mind--- It’s chicanery’s chosen name....

The House of Life to Stephen Come in, my friend, and warm yourself; come in out of the cold! The night is dark, and icy winds blow harshly on the wold. Inside you´ll find a roaring fire to warm you as you stand Before its crackling flames, a cup of...

based on a true story My wife’s in bed with lowered head and even lower mood. Her chin’s on her chest and she’s not impressed though at least she’s eating her food. Her smiles are few (one’s way overdue), this downtime’s, I hope, but a blip. I’ll leave it at...

. The coziest wrap of a cuddle To wear under snow-swollen skies; The grin of a kith-and-kin huddle To glisten in sparkling eyes; A tipple of mistletoe kisses To quench my intemperate thirst; A feast of felicitous wishes To dine on till I'm fit to burst; A hand-in-hand stroll through...

. . Prince Hamlet Speaks About Election Fraud Prince Hamlet speaks about election fraud:"O villainy! Ho! Let the door be locked.Treachery! Seek it out." And this we laud:A voice half crazy yet all true that rockedA kingdom, laying bare the crimes withinThat had enwrapped the nation in a plotTo seize control...

_ On Your Marx If humans ran a Human Race, __Karl Marx would not be in it. The human depth that he could trace __would leach out in a minute. For he is neither man nor beast __but half-life near demonic, A few kneels from satanic priest __reversing good, moronic....

What is One to do with a Useless Man?: Philoctetes: A Myth Retold is a poetic play by Fr. Bruce Wren.   Act 5 Scene 2 Philoctetes alone (singing the first quartet softly, then soliloquy) If solitude comes knocking on your door, ____Accept her as a strange but lovely guest...

. Strange Election inspired by President Trump's speech on election fraud (below) by Evan Mantyk Strange numbers were appearing in the dead of night From ballot boxes As if foxes Crept there out of sight. Strange cases under tables Pulled out after hours Caught on tape--- Republic rape, Abuse of...

The Painting of the Virgin God, seeing in America a child Embracing Faith with jubilation meet, Took up His paints, and on a flowered sheet By His own hand a portrait deftly styled, For He intended Jesus' Mother mild To be that favored Nation's mercy seat, Whence He would issue...

. That Day of Infamy ∼ December 7th, 1941 Zeros burst through bluest skies __Like stealthy birds of prey, Set to swoop and pulverize __Pearl Harbor’s soul that day; That day of scarlet rising suns __On warfare’s wicked wing; That day the blaze from bombs and guns __Unleashed the Reaper’s...

for my two-year-old grandson, Exander “There’s no tale in the world I can’t believe.” I said.“If you have learned belief, you have learned something.” ---Rudyard Kipling, “Bimi” X We meant to journey to the park;earth did not hold us as it ought,to Neverland we did embark—not the excursion we had...

. Act I Scene I NARRATOR Imagine now the scene: the angry engine, Its beeping brain, its smooth and metal muscles That barely seem to strain beneath the mighty load; And standing all around no creature rustles, For it’s a moonless night that has been chosen To haul away the...

. One night a lean and wizened soul scuffed down the old mill road, while moonlight cast upon the knoll a mounted figure showed. The Horseman sat perfectly still, face shrouded in the mist. His hooded form withstood the chill, a scythe gripped in his fist. The old man stopped...

. To Some Other Poets Let hoary heads divine and then divide,Dot i’s and dance on pins and sneer with pride,And ogle with an obverse obfuscationTo fuel the furious fires of their frustration.  An academic audience allowsThat poets sometimes give us purple cows,Or castles of  the mind, or balmy breezes,Then trumpet...

. Appeal to the Muse O Saint Cecilia, more than just a muse— The very author by this pen and ink— I plead thy help, and never wish to lose Assistance at the quill, or in the rink. For Art is cutthroat; those who try may sink, And much of...

  Gather round everyone, come near! My story is for all to hear. A song for you I now shall sing, A song about Murry the King. Murry was the King of the West And ruled till he was laid to rest. Godhild was his beautiful Queen And none more...

X No tengo más que darte —Inscription on a Spanish sailor's gold ring, in the shape of a hand holding out a heart, found off the western coast of Ireland. Their splintered hulls well-raked with cannon fire, Great sails shot ragged by hot English grape, The rigging singed or severed...

_ Our Bishops, on Nov. 4, 2020 Our bishops hail the president-elect.Do they suppose the election is decided?Or are they anxious that we all move onAnd welcome policies that won’t excludeThe illegal alien from such benefitsAs she may gain through legislative act? Our bishops seem oblivious to the factThat charges that...

2 November 2020 Two weeks and counting here I be In clutches of the CCP I don’t delight as I once did In birthday presents, cards, and quid, But my two darling angel-girls Served me with functionary pearls That bode delightful memories Unlike what came from overseas And self-opened in...

  They mix together here waiting for the trim black and gold gondolas heading into side canals that drain and brim with refuse and will bear souls that wait to ride. The tourist's straying finger stutters taking photos of shadows as they linger--- chiaroscuro, light and dark---along the rows of...

  Famine de l'âme The soul, deprived of one essential thing, Cannot rely on dusty stores of hope; Seeking to mitigate starvation's sting, Finds worthless every erstwhile way to cope: Profound malaise, la grande douleur exquise, Mere denegation cannot obviate; Frantic pursuit of new activities The pang of loss will...

  The turkey that we blithely ate Had little cause to celebrate The final Thursday in November. It's customary to dismember A hapless bird that's plucked and trussed To satisfy our boundless lust For juicy chunks of roasted meat. The friends and relatives we seat Are thankful for the now...