Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
“Louvre Robbed in Broad Daylight”
-news item
One
wonders if there is any narrow daylight.
Saturday, October 25, 2025
Louvre Robbed in Broad Daylight - a question
A Classmate’s Noisy Little Sister - poem
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
A Classmate’s Noisy Little Sister
"The old order changeth, yielding place to new,
And God fulfils Himself in many ways…”
-Tennyson, Idylls of the King
When she was a child
An assignment in one of her high school classes
Was to write to one of Our Brave Boys somewhere
Section 8 of Article I was being ignored
And she chose me, which made me feel special
Which is irrelevant; her funeral is tomorrow
Her son, a fine young man, cried as he hugged me
A father himself, a citizen of dignity and honor
For the moment a little boy who couldn’t find his mom
As her family assembled to pray her farewell
She did good
And so may you
And so may we all
DO NOT TAKE PICTURES OF THE TRANSPARENT DESTRUCTION! - poem (of a sort)
Lawrence
Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
DO NOT TAKE PICTURES OF THE TRANSPARENT DESTRUCTION!
Macbeth
to the witches:
How now, you secret,
black, and midnight hags.
A deed
without a name.
-Macbeth IV.i.48-50
Bricks,
freedom, columns, windows that let in light, old trees that shaded the lawns, dignity,
decency, mercy, kindness, self-discipline, honor, precedents ancient and
modern, protections, chapters and verses, the majesty of the law, literature,
music, art, dining with utensils, logic, education, good taste – all must go DO
NOT TAKE PICTURES
Wreckers
guide steel treads
DO NOT TAKE PICTURES Over fragments of Amendment V
Trenchers
rip the
heart DO NOT TAKE PICTURES out
of Amendment IV
Excavators
heave Amendment XXII
DO NOT TAKE PICTURES
into garbage skips
Cranes
stack bits of Amendment VI against a chain link fence
DO NOT TAKE PICTURES
And at
dusk a fire, a big, beautiful fire, chantings and clenched fists while tokens
of the freedom to disagree, freedom from a government religion, freedom to
choose one’s own books, and freedom from fear rise as flame and fire and smoke,
and The People wave their made-in-China gift-shop bibles with the words of Our
Leader printed in red and sing along to the musical stylings of Horst Wessel.
BUT DO NOT TAKE PICTURES
You are the Poet and the Poem - poem
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
You are the Poet and the Poem
You are the poem and the poet
Without you the sun could not rise
Bringing light for the flowers
And warmth to bless this happy land
"There's Husbandry in Heaven" - poem
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
“There’s Husbandry in
Heaven”
“…There’s
husbandry in heaven;
Their
candles are all out...”
-Macbeth II.i.6-7
Good folk will tend to see the good in all -
When Banquo was aware of the starless night
He saw in that not a lack of light
But rather the careful conservation of light
And so we see this night, this rainy night
Not as a time of cold and darkness and damp
But an occasion for hearth-gathering the family
For cards, chess, read-alouds, blankies, warmth, peace
Good folk will tend to see the good in all
And good must then on all of us befall
Saturday, October 18, 2025
Who is My Favorite Hero? - poem
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
Who is My Favorite Hero?
Do you now, or have you ever…
Worked double shifts or double jobs to pay the bills
Read to your children instead of yelling at them
Had to jump-start your car in the pre-dawn cold
Jump-started your neighbor’s car in the pre-dawn cold
Do you now, or have you ever…
Done some hard time in the military
Served in the volunteer fire department
Attended divine services without making a fuss
Milked cows, chopped wood, raised a garden
Know which end of a hammer hits the nail
Built a home library for your children and yourself
Set a daily study schedule for developing your mind
Raised your children after your spouse bugged out
Do you now, or have you ever…
Gone to work zero-dark-early and stayed there late
And did more than was expected of you
Taken your children on nature works
Volunteered at your local hospital
Of course you have
So who is my favorite hero?
You are
Stop Running - poem
Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
Stop Running
1 Kings 19
Stop searching. Hold still
Rest now under a broom tree
And He will find you
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