Some love life
some do not
there're yet others
who can't be bothered

as for me
life I respect
what's in store
I accept

moments that are joyous
even those that make me sad
the former to heart I'll take
of the latter I ain't afraid

life's myriad chimes
they ceaselessly oscillate
they carry us forward
until we're dead

Did I step on a butterfly once in my youth
That I must live in such pain today

Did I not reach out to someone in need
That my days are now crowded with hurting.

Did I never walk for that extra mile
That each step today is a torment.

Did I not study the course close enough
That agony is what I have to learn.

Have I earned a lifetime of level-nine days
When to be only aching becomes a reward.
                 ljm

Lawrence Hall
[email protected]
Dispatches for the Colonial Office

                                      The Church Garage Sale

                  (Although the garage sale is in the parish hall
                                   because there is no garage)


A garage sale is a rebuke to us all -
The metaphysical finger having writ
Turns now from that lost Babylonian wall
And points as if to scribe in us this bit:

Why did you buy these masses of junk at all?