XLIII-XLVI

XLIII.

The nisse is a spirit of the home
who lives within the barn if there’s a farm.
In English we would call this chap a gnome
protecting our whole household from all harm.

Ideally his traits but number three:
a long and looping beard down to the floor;
a pointed cap pulled low so one can see
a button nose and not one feature more.

Domestic faeries all through Europe dwell
most often under hearthstone for the heat.
These goodly sprites fear not the churchman’s bell.
Indeed, at Christmas they’ll expect a treat.

Such Christian elementals I embrace.
The nisse in our home has pride of place.


XLIV.

A four-day weekend home with all my brood.
The wife is off to sunny western shores.
We cultivate a restful, easy mood
while also taking time to do our chores.

From sundown unto sundown I declare
a sabbath from our phones and little screens.
Thus Saturday’s a family affair,
and when we watch it’s all on one TV.

We shop and cook and launder many loads.
We do more dishes, then some work outside.
We walk the dogs along old country roads
and manage mostly not to be too snide.

What simple thing, to disconnect a day;
a standing order I’ll not soon belay.


XLV.

When ev’rything around me falls apart
and certainties of life at once upend,
the slow and steady center of my heart
are those who through the years have called me friend.

To love, respect, and honor worthy souls
and find that they in turn reciprocate
surpasses all my other worldly goals
and from my anxiousness does liberate.

I never fully realized it then
while chasing vain ambition all those years
but here they were beside me standing when
we made it through the chaos and the tears.

Though time and distance carry us away
the bond of soul to soul can never fray.


XLVI.

They say that Archimedes had a hook
the Syracusans lowered from their walls.
The Roman craft were lifted high and shook,
then on a hapless sister ship would fall.

More wondrous yet was Archimedes’ ray
that focused on the sea the heat of sun.
Old Lucian says it burned the fleet away
but Romans always were the stubborn ones.

They slew him at his table in the siege
so centered as he was upon his math.
And this despite the orders of their liege
who recognized a valued philomath.

The joy of pure discov’ry was his aim
yet mechanistic terrors proved his fame.