MISSIONARY REUNION

Leni, then a girl with a lace smile,
Lent us her baptismal dress in Santa Cruz,
Knowing there was sainthood to share
And nothing to lose.

I never saw such frightened eyes
As hers tonight. New Stake President's wife,
Heart a flight away from home,
Oblivious to her glory,
She held a baby son.

I would have given her my wedding dress,
Even things I don't yet own.

(Provo, Utah, April 1980)

THE SECRET OF LUND (To Arthur Henry King, 1910-2000)

Our mentor, who wast our teacher,

Rememberéd be thy face.

Thy studies here; thy wisdom there

In shadow as it was in morn.

Behind the Grand Hotel,

Beyond the Dome-Church bell,

Past the rune-stoned college,

Down the boot-stained cobbles,

Dusk led to etymology,

A plot for philology:

The botanical tree garden

Honoring Linné’s biology.

Exhale feeds birch, beech, pine, and vine,

Open-air orchids, greenhouse cactus,

Parabolic orchards, paradisaical fruit,

Leaf, trunk, and bloom in God’s Växthus.

The Branch that gave us this day

Our daily breath, deprives us of fear

As we release those who dread us,

And rescues us from death,

And brings us not into pollution.

For Lund is a kingdom,

And a tower, and a grove,

For ever, for Arthur, amen, again.

(Lund, Sweden; Sunday, 17 August 2003)

WORDCRAFTER (For Arthur H. King)

First poems are for practice –

Next verses are for dreams –

Inspiration is the third

Of daily words in rhemes.

Mimesis is the frame –

Poiesis proffers schemes –

A “sermo humilis” approach

Enlightens pure-style themes.

The “music of endorsement” sings

Redeeming love’s refrain –

Revision makes the valleys hills

Remission makes rough places plain.

(6 June 2008, Provo, Utah)