I. We hear about the goings on in church from Mrs. H; Hyacinth Hripsime, called Parish Clerk in the Old Country, here known as Church Secretary.
Advent
In a city
on a hill
Once upon a time there was a church
whose altar reached into the heavens,
anchored by a second altar below
below the high altar there was a crypt.
In the crypt, bones and stone, another altar
Whose dark deep doubled
ascent—descent
celestial is the mineral
Mighty order
reaching from end to end
But they did not heed;
Misfortune befell this sacred home
Malevolent mid-management men
in a ‘moment of misguided mischief’
that lasted millennium
Locked away the Lady in a tower
‘it’s what the story says,’ they primly whimpered
The moon shone behind the spire
biding then bidding
her time
The crypt awoke. Bones raised rattling
In silence they cried out
And there were some who heard.