The Cliffdweller of Pippa Passes
Youth (birth to graduation)
The year's at the spring
The spring's at the morn
The morning's at seven
The hillside's dew pearled
The
lark's on the wing
The snail's on the thorn
God's in his heaven
All's right with the world
First Stanzas written by Robert Browning.
Post grad jobs and marriage
Work, work, work
Slave, you jerk, jerk, jerk
You must learn
Joy to spurn
Yearn to earn
Earn your urn
With more work, work, work.
Ten years later
The year's at Christ's birth
The day's at the morn
The morning's at seven
Wrapped presents unfurled
The
room's filled with mirth
The child toots his new horn
The family's in heaven
All's right with the world?
Last Stanzas added by Christopher Knauth.
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The Reunion Resurrection Prayer
[Agnostic male, to be politically correct]
They
knew not where they came from
We know not where they went
But we know they fought the good fight
We trust they died content.
I
know not where I came from
I know not where I'll go
I strive to fight the good fight
To what effect, I'll know.
Where
did our children come from?
This miracle we've all watched grow
We pray they'll fight the good fight
And go where we'll all go.
Our
birth, our love and death
How did I meet THE wife
How did these things all happen
These mysteries of life?
In
my youth, a tenor sang of love
With joyful, puzzled breath
As Goethe in his old age
Compared youth's rest with death.
"Who
can explain it?"
I heard the tenor sigh
"Fools [may] give you reasons
[But] wise men never try".
At
our Harvard's 50th reunion
Long since our learning's birth
'Tis the closest we will ever get
To heaven on THIS earth!
Our
family, friends and loved ones
Will we all meet again?
It's oh so "pretty to think so".
Our faith we MUST sustain!
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You Loved Me Once
You
loved me once
How could I tell?
Your eyes, your smile...
I danced so well.
But I was only twenty-three
And there was still the world to see.
Youth's
bells peeled. Trumpets called to life.
Too young to wed and girls to know
Alps, Rome, fjords and gay Paree
Brazil, Peru and Mexico
I travelled far o'er land and sea
And never once dids't think on thee.
Planes,
trains, spitoons, bikes, hikes and busses
All these I used my world to viewing
But as the years passed one, two, three
I paused to think what am I doing?
Now bored with what I once admired
This pub, flat broke, alone and tired.
I
looked up from my cup, twas thee
What chance to find alone at tea?!
I leapt up from my seat to greet
My first true love, youth's love so sweet
But who is this? What do I see?
"Oh, this is John. He married me."
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2008 Christopher Knauth, All Rights Reserved.
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