
“The news we got at first was dire,/the damage bad though not entire”
at the King and Prince
It came to pass a sudden fire
caused by a single faulty wire
set off alarms which brought a corps
of county workers trained to pour
out gallons till all sparks expire.
The news we got at first was dire,
the damage bad though not entire,
unlike that on the topmost floor,
it came to pass.
We practiced patience to acquire
insurance payments, then to hire
the proper people to restore
the unit’s structure and décor
so we could sell our heart’s desire:
it came to pass.
A native Virginian, Jane Blanchard lives and writes in Georgia. Her work has recently appeared in The Lyric and The French Literary Review. Her latest collection is Metes and Bounds.