Sophie
Sophie sits on my window sill,
Leafy green and perfectly still;
Quiet as an Air Force glider,
Or a truly well-fed spider.
Though she’s root-bound in her pot,
It doesn’t phase her, not a lot.
We give her water so she’ll thrive
Like bees on honey in their hive.
As she sends up new green shoots,
She stays fresh with her pot-bound roots;
As she grows some leaves turn yellow,
A sign that all is well, and mellow.
Sophie is my sole companion,
For good or ill she’s always fresh,
Lovely, like a great green Banyan,*
Or a dryad bound in flesh.
* The Banyan represents growth, strength, and self-awareness through reflection. meditation, and a quieting of one's mind. It is said that Buddha found enlightenment after sitting under the banyan tree for 7 days.
This verse was also included in “Tiny Verses,” but I forgot, and I also wanted a picture of her to go with it. So, I thought I had also better put something new with it; thus “Love Divine.” The lovely hymn goes “Love Divine all loves excelling.” My verse is a rough draft, done this morning; after my borrowing of the hymn’s first line, sort of, any other relation to the real hymn is purely accidental. I don’t know why I can’t get things more than half right! It’s depressing. I feel like Antonio Salieri in Amadeus looking at Mozart’s first drafts. “Here’s the very voice of God,” he says before dropping all the sheets of music. Mozart’s wife asks, “is it not good?” Salieri says, acknowledging the truth he’s just seen: “It’s miraculous.”
Love Divine
Love Divine all love exceeding,
Calling at the temple door;
Knocking softly, seeking entrance,
Love Divine will not implore?
Does He stand outside a beggar?
Will He stand there evermore?
Time will tell that once time’s vanished
There will be no time, no more.
Inside the temple on a pew
Sleeps a solitary creature,
Wasting all his given days.
Even though Truth was his teacher,
Truth was just for him a phase.
Love Divine cries out “Awaken,
For your Time’s about to end.”
Once that’s gone and Truth gone with it,
Love Divine can no soul mend.
So thou sleeping foolish soul,
Awaken before your Time’s all gone,
And the sun sets leaving darkness
For in that darkness there’s no dawn.
Image: Sophie by Fred
