THE HALLS OF MERCY

We walked the silent halls of Mercy
Beset by whispered ghosts of Kentucky,
Of plaid-skirted girls giggling down corridors
Decaying now like leaves well past their prime.

The world was new when the auctioneer’s cries
Died off to silence across the wide Ohio,
And the offspring of Civil War dead
Marched these halls like legionnaires of Rome.

To justify the ways of God to man.
Oh not to man alone, but too the weaker sex,
With vigor now in lux et veritas
To learn the strength that knowledge brings to all.