Lawrence
Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's
Journal of Life, Literature and Love
The Modern
Science of Imprisoned Sound
If thousands boo the vice-president
And NBC filters them out
Is there a sound?
Thursday, February 12, 2026
The Modern Science of Imprisoned Sound - short poem
The 1970s, When Lapels Roamed Wild - poem
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love
The 1970s – When Lapels Roamed Wild
In the 1970s’ men’s lapels grew wider and wider
And men’s neckties grew wider and wider
And men’ sideburns grew wider and wider
And they all got so wide that they blew away
(Poof!)
And haven’t been seen since
And in the Darkness Bind Them - poem
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the
Colonial Office
LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's
Journal of Life, Literature and Love
And in the Darkness Bind Them
-from the ring-verse
in Lord of the Rings
I.
I should pity a certain poor old man
But he has established for us concentration camps
Where pity is forbidden
II.
And why
is Jeffrey Epstein’s ghost
Our fourth branch of government?
A Night Prayer for You - poem
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's Journal of Life, Literature and Love
A Night Prayer for You
Thank you
For the prayers you offered over your first cuppa
For the breakfast you made for yourself and others
For singing along with the radio on your way to work
For wearing your seatbelt and stopping at the lights
Thank you
For going to work in the heat or the dust or the snow
For tipping the overworked server at a hurried lunch
For the jokes that made the workday better for all
For minding your tongue when the boss said something stupid
(something really stupid)
Thank you
For the verse you wrote, the words you read
For your little children whom you tucked into bed
Thank you –
You made the world a better place today
My Preferred Verb and Adverb
Lawrence
Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's
Journal of Life, Literature and Love
My
Preferred Verb and Adverb
Grow up.
In other contexts “up” can be a
preposition or adjective, but in “grow up” it is an adverb. As Pontius Pilate
said, “what I have written I have written.”
My Brother Lost His Wife - poem
Lawrence
Hall
My
Brother Lost His Wife
Which sounds as if he misplaced her,
like car keys
But she has gone away, as must we
all
Into those far-beyond mysteries beyond
our poor knowing
And leaving us vacuums and vacancies
And he is sorting out bills to be
paid
Her nursing license which will not be
renewed
The bits and bobs to be given to the
children
Daily remembances in all the little
things
His days are mysteries
Filling in the great emptiness in
his life
and all the small
ones
Sunday, February 8, 2026
A Boyhood Friend Goes to the River - memorial poem
Lawrence Hall
mhall46184@aol.com
A Boyhood Friend Goes to the River
My soul has grown deep like the rivers
-Langston Hughes
His son visited him in hospital every day
The father told the son, “I need to go to the river”
And so they left the hospital; they sat on the bank
They watched the river, they talked to the waters
They listened to the waters and the winds
One more lesson from the river, the eternal flow
The growing-up river, the teaching river
The river, their father-and-son river
One day, in silence, his spirit slipped away
And crossed over the river forever
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