489 and 490

2 Nephi 4: 35

And hell still follows after. How embraced

are he and I? As if tied hip and heel.

But still, tho hellward I am strictly faced,

I will not stop, nor hymnsong now repeal.

This bitter heart will not control this tongue.

Tho blood, provoked by madness and despair,

deprive it of each sweet note ever sung,

I’ll still sing what I still remember there.

These arms shall tread good paths, tho feet may not—

tho trails take me to where I cannot see

wherewith I might rejoice. But all my thought

shall call to mind what God has done for me.

If past must be the only light ahead,

I’ll sing of it, until this hell is dead.

~~~

Apple Cottage (the pet store) ix:

There is a tortoise, too, in this pet store,

who’s also been published, like Jefferson;

but Franz the tortoise enjoys much, much more

the artist’s craft, and a head chef’s apron.

Today, he ran out of his bright red paint,

and also needed onions from the store,

so to the goldfish went he, calm and quaint,

appreciating patterns on the floor.

And when, at last, he looked up to the tank,

where Jefferson would usually be,

he thought there must have been some kind of prank:

the whole pet store was there, looking at he!

For none had caught the eye, yet, of the chef,

and none could catch his ear, for he was deaf!