BROWN PSALM

BROWN PSALM

How couldst Thou be so cruel to me?
“I am the Gardener here”
Why didst Thou prune my eminence?
“To make you sweeter, Dear”

What can I give when I’m so small?
“Your yield will augment mine”
How can I fill my destiny?
“Your harvest will be fine”

(26 October 2010, Provo, Utah)

THE POET PSALM

THE POET PSALM (for EED and RWE) 

Circumference her master trope – 

Her minor turn is prose 

Of dialectic opposites – 

The arguments men pose. 

She runs a Circuit round the Word – 

Her purpose is to ring 

The bells of periphrastic hymn – 

Her “business is to sing” 

Domestic is her universe 

Beneath – beside – above – 

 Beyond antithesis she brings 

Economy of love. 

 (11 August 2010, Provo, Utah)

DRAWING PSALM

    DRAWING PSALM 

The light makes perspective – 

The angles that slope – 

Diminishing arches – 

Diagonal scope. 

The rays intersticing – 

The network of waves – 

The particles splicing – 

In cross-section naves. 

Antiphonal pointing – 

Symmetrical twines – 

Stained-glass panes appointing – 

Perfectioning lines. 

 (11 August 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)

HIGHGATE PSALM

   

HIGHGATE PSALM (to Mary Ann Evans, aka GE) 

Unconsecrated ground (they said) 

Is hallowed by thy grave 

Your common marriage (not by law) 

With neither aisle nor nave 

The sacred space walks into us 

As we move through each page 

To realms of moral circumstance 

In novels for our age. 

 (15 August 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)

KEBLE PSALM

        KEBLE PSALM (to Emily wherever) 

“They shut me up in prose” she marked – 

A dialectic cell – 

The polar oppositions of 

A reason to excel. 

The cloister – chapel – quadrangle – 

The library – the lawn – 

The polished composition of 

A logic closely drawn. 

Our fathers have engendered us – 

Our mothers have inspired – 

The patriarchs identify 

The matriarchs desire. 

 (8 August 2010, London)

MARGARET’S PSALM

MARGARET’S PSALM

The saturated beauty of
Historical surmise –
Voluminous with duty and
The ever watching skies.

The battlements of history
Parade in magazine –
Bituminous with mystery
They shroud the modern scene.

(2 August 2010, Edinburgh, Scotland)

DISTRICT PSALM

DISTRICT PSALM

Landscapes – pastures – footpaths – lakes –
Blessings of my solitude –
Scattering pre-August rain –
I will never be the same.

Who am I to bear this joy?
Who gave me this quiet voice?
Gathering pre-harvest grain
Whispered in Thy stainless name.

(30 July 2010, Edinburgh, Scotland)

BORDER PSALM

BORDER PSALM

Lord of the Bold – Guard of the Lamb –
Walk by my side in the green fens –
Golden the dusk – gentle the path –
Lead me to bask in the fair glens.

God of the Breeze – Friend of the Sheep –
Show me Thy ways in the wild hills –
Lovely the land – soaring the view –
Teach me to live in the calm dells.

(31 July 2010, Edinburgh, Scotland)

POLI-SCI-FI VERSE

POLI-SCI-FI VERSE

Subversion is self-consciousness –
A counterfeit for depth –
A fundamental ignorance –
A lack of height and breadth –

An adolescent undermine –
A disconcerting strike –
A tantrum for dismantling
The virtues they dislike.

Politicos Anonymous –
Astute but seldom wise –
Condemning what they cannot spoil
Or cleverly revise.

An underhanded sabotage
To slander – slash – and burn –
Destruction of prosperity
They did not help to earn.

They try to make us serfs and dupes –
Bully goals are feudal –
Progressive pretext for control –
Show of force – But – futile.

(16 May 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)

HARP PSALM

HARP PSALM

The Harp as healing instrument –
The Harp as Shepherd’s rod –
The Harp as music’s metonym –
The Harp’s Shir Yedidot.

The Harp as Son of David’s sign –
The Harp as tree of Life –
The Harp for king of righteousness –
The Harp as type of Christ.

The Harp as Temple Covenant –
The Harp for jubilee–
The Harp menora’s branching light –
The Harp for angel’s glee.

(28 March 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)