The cathedral is cold the stones burn my bones and the tall thin windows squeeze the light into weird shapes on my hands. Are these my hands in a strange old Gothic arch pointed heavenward? Is this my breath a little silver cloud evaporating heavenward? Down the stone ribbed arch my whispered echoes Drop like tiny icicles One by one earthward. What is there to ask that has not been granted? LAVON B. CARROLL. SONNETT: ON DEATH Aye! hell its gloom hath prest to this bright day, With frostlike breath doth blight the gladsome soul; And 'bates the joy no man can bid to stay, With citrine breath embroils th' apparent whole. Aye, note the shades of Pluto's pinions poised, For countless ages dread of man's abode; Each doomfilled note his bellowed silence noised, For man each love, each hope can but corrode. Now, our lost happiness 'pears but a sigh, Each bliss, each smile, each breath vain ecstasy; And Cynthia who brushed our joyful eye In truth's a myth, a spark cast to the sea; Ah, yet the care, the doubt, the spite and strife Oft serve to steel the sinews of man's life. G. R. Grove. After spring showers mud puddles are lovely treats for new galoshes. SUSAN THACKER 20 A STATUTE TO THE DEAD (ERECTED FOR THE LIVING) I - AM A REMINDER TO THE LIVING, A MEMORIAL TO THE DEAD, OF THE RAVAGES OF WAR. FROM MY JAWS POUR FORTH A NATION'S LAMENT AND SORROW. I - AM THE VOICE OF THE DEAD, THE WOUNDED, AND THE PAST. DO NOT FORGET ME! I - AM THE UNKNOWN, THE FALLEN HERO. MY BONES LIE IN FOREIGN SOIL - I AM THE SON, THE FATHER, THE SWEETHEART, TO THOSE WHO WAITED, WHO LOVED, WHO ENDURED, BUT IN VAIN - I DID NOT RETURN! I - AM THE LEADER, WHO IN GOOD FAITH WITH MY SUPERIORS AND A CLEAR CONSCIENCE BEFORE MY GOD LED MY MEN INTO BATTLE BELIEVING OUR CAUSE WAS JUST. NOW I CRY AS ONE FROM THE DUST OF AGES, DRIFTING, RESTLESS, YEARNING. FOR I WAS BETRAYED! I - AM THE MISERY, THE HELL, THAT ONE MAN BROUGHT UPON A NATION. BUT I - AM THE NATION THAT LET HIM BRING IT! O HUMANITY, WEEP NOT FOR ME; YOUR TEARS BUT SEAR AND BURN MY OPEN WOUND. THEY FALL IN VAIN. RATHER, LOOK TO YOUR OWN GENERATION AND LOVE. - RONALD BARTLETT