Down the Ages
“Funny stuff isn’t what rings down through the ages.”
—A poet friend commenting on my lack of seriousness
Oh, what is it that rings and sings,
down through the ages, tra la?
Is it a bell that dongs and dings
down through the ages? Ah,
it is a deep and sonorous bell,
a large and majestic booming bell,
a solemn, profound, and ponderous bell,
down through the ages, la!
But I’ll be gone before we know
what’s down through the ages, tra la.
Over me the grass will grow
down through the ages. Ah,
only my stone will remain of me.
Engraved upon it you will see:
His bell was ephemeral, hee hee hee,
but it was fun—ha ha!
Lines on Reading Professor X
Professor, I just love your prose.
With you there’s no half-baking.
How grandly you elaborate
points hardly worth the making.
Gerald George has published three books: Figments, A Penitential Prayer, and Imitations of Indonesia. His poetry also has appeared in numerous periodicals and anthologies, including in Light. His verse play, Bailey’s Mistake, was produced in the 2008 Maine One-Act Play Festival. He has formerly been a member of the editorial board of the poetry journal Off the Coast, and for several years he coordinated the Roque Bluffs Poetry Festival. He lives in Belfast, Maine.