Notre Dame

I did not weep to see it burn;
I wept to see the others see;
To watch as children sadly learn
That nothing keeps eternally;
To see their elders, who believed
They had forever to behold
What now is lost, be subtly grieved
And wish they were no longer old
Not for themselves, for pains or aches,
But so the world might be renewed
If only for their children's sakes
So they too might have someday viewed
The buttressed roof, the lovely spire
As they had been before the fire.

April Showers

Just as the winter melts into the spring,
When daffodils begin to push up stalks,
When everyone is glad of everything
And days are finally long enough for walks;
Just as the summer seems around the bend
Whispering promises of life and light,
When what we've suffered finds at last an end
And lawns and trees are green again, not white;
Just as the seasons turn and make us merry,
And hope sneaks up to catch us unawares;
As we forget to be forever wary,
Putting aside our well-worn winter cares
The clouds arrive and punish us with rain
For thinking spring brought pleasure without pain.

Beg

My dog does not know how to beg
That doesn't mean she doesn't try
But pawing me upon the leg
Is ineffective: wonder why?
She has the puppy eyes, of course,
As any pup must, by default;
But easily resorts to force
To crack her food's resistant vault
Which would make sense, except she weighs
Just fourteen-fifteen pounds or so
So force from her merely conveys
The message of her deep-felt woe.
At least she doesn't bark so far
For which we all most thankful are.