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The Jordan Sonnets

I. I shall never hear the city sirens
But I will see a young boy, laying prone
In the midst of powerless environs
And we, who waited, feeble flesh and bone
I shall never hear a creature wailing
But I will see his father on his knees
Mad with grief, and cowed by human failing
With Gods and thieves stone deaf to hear his pleas
In that dark nether world my soul will mourn
Exchanging magic for humility
That we are not invincible, but born
Of anatomical fragility
Of all the things most incongruous wild:
Shock-sudden death, and anyone’s small child

II.
All that goes into creating a breath
An opus, a spell, or legerdemain
Does not the same escort us unto death?
The random gifts of grace, as much as pain
Then did the angels whisper, at his birth
Predilect his father, begging rescue
From insufficient time upon this earth
Young son lain unconscious on the fescue
The butterfly my daughter could not save
She brought me, stiff of wing, pronouncing dead
Cradled reverently, then made a grave
“Sweet Butterfly” was all the headstone said
Blessings on the fledgling souls we cherished
The boy and the Mourning Cloak have perished

-H.P.Hart, 7.12

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I. I shall never hear the city sirens
But I will see a young boy, laying prone
In the midst of powerless environs
And we, who waited, feeble flesh and bone
I shall never hear a creature wailing
But I will see his father on his knees
Mad with grief, and cowed by human failing
With Gods and thieves stone deaf to hear his pleas
In that dark nether world my soul will mourn
Exchanging magic for humility
That we are not invincible, but born
Of anatomical fragility
Of all the things most incongruous wild:
Shock-sudden death, and anyone’s small child

II.
All that goes into creating a breath
An opus, a spell, or legerdemain
Does not the same escort us unto death?
The random gifts of grace, as much as pain
Then did the angels whisper, at his birth
Predilect his father, begging rescue
From insufficient time upon this earth
Young son lain unconscious on the fescue
The butterfly my daughter could not save
She brought me, stiff of wing, pronouncing dead
Cradled reverently, then made a grave
“Sweet Butterfly” was all the headstone said
Blessings on the fledgling souls we cherished
The boy and the Mourning Cloak have perished

-H.P.Hart, 7.12

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4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
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