Ode to Harpeth Hall

You students, you plaid, you dress uniforms
You Souby lawn grass, you magnolia shine
You red bricks, you Ann Scott Carell library
You Wallace, you Massey, you Bullard 
You green hills, and rain, and snow sometimes
You cardinals darting from tree to tree
You middle school girls skipping and free
You AP scholars, you Harkness discussions
You United States history, your voices so bright
I sing your praise for days now past
Though some may say he’s a California lad
The truth is, he’s really quite sad
Harpeth Hall you have made your mark
And hark, you who I taught, I may be gone
but you still have my heart

The Old House: 1978-2023

this is the place
where i once lived
basement tv, saturday sugar
cereal, endless ping pong
mowing the lawn and
shooting driveway basketball hoops
sledding as a child
reading by the fireplace
blasting the beasties upstairs
on the old stereo
ice cream birthday cakes
hide and go seek
learning how to shave
and juggle bean bags
talent shows with sunglasses
and the elvis moves
staring at jumping squirrels
outside my bedroom window
a home once ours
now is no more

2023

it is the end of 2022
and what are we to do?
celebrate the newfound cold
and embrace all that is beautifully bold

there is a blessing in the air
a promise to live without fear
to love our family and all who are dear
this is what the universe wants us to do

to be kind and speak what is true
stand strong like sycamores against the wind
in this new year we begin again
to be grateful for all that is

and so the days will go by
carrying life like a sparrow song
our spirits dancing on and on
here’s to 2023 and all that is yet to be