To Apartment 10:
Parnassus! Send a sprite to speed this pen,
And Helicon, hie help from thy high home;
These sisters five to glorify and then
To add upon that glory, dome by dome.
Cathedrals flaunt their epic art,
The works of man, the house of God,
They turn to gold the iron rod,
Bright colored windows do their part.
Peacocks have such gaudy eyes,
Their mates attract through outward guise.
But these keen five have vessels fully cleansed
Within, without -- no Arc of Covenant
Could be more sacred, Moses would have sent
Their souls unto the crowd, to humble it.
Yea, with their voices, Aaron would have sang,
Or given sermons more persuasively.
And five times round the tempest would have rang
To break the city walls, invasively.
The Holy City is a holy place,
But Provo, holier for these blessed five.
Can prettiness keep holiness alive?
When backed by hearts of gold, the Scripture says.
And thus we see the goodness of
A holy and a righteous love.
Adonais died, and Echo wept for days,
Apollo brought the sun to cheer her up,
Poseidon flung his waves to her amaze;
The salty sweetened her twice bitter cup.
Queen Mab and Oberon played tag by trees
The humming birds were singing near the bees,
Ulysses vowed to drink life to the lees,
And leave his home to sail the Western seas.
But what are gods to Saints, or Greeks to greats --
Thou art great Saints, and all the Greeks to thee
Are but a race of wantons and complaints:
Hesperides without her apple tree.
The past unto the present pours it's due
Libations, drinking in a better hue.
...
Sisters rejoice! Rejoice in who you are.
The day is slow, but joy will make it fast,
A couple more will see heaven at last:
It is around you, Heaven is not far.
Earth is a child of Heaven, realize
The beauty where it stands, and strive to see
The blessedness of life's reality.
Heaven is close. Sisters, open your eyes!
And yet, a little while, you'll feel to shout
Like morning stars for glory in past times.
It doesn't take a poet's sketchy rimes
To conjure joy or charm the sadness out.
It only takes some searching for the Good --
Joy is a tree, and Life, a sacred wood.
Sincerely, Jeff
Thanks Jeff for all the memories. You and your verses will not be forgotten. :)
