Sonnet Letter To Mr. Tom Lehrer

To Mr. Tom Lehrer, A Letter In The Form Of A Sonnet

Or,  Repayment In Kind, Hopefully As Good As It Is Sincere

Re: An Important Message For Mr. Tom Lehrer. Dear Mr. Lehrer,  

I’ve meant to tell you something since forever —& realized I’d better plan — .

Lest my intentions be mistaken by some demon for mere asphalt. So you have this letter - 

I’ve gotten old enough to know I’d better try to reach you now while I still can.

For the subject, alas, of your effect (e.g., on me), its breadth, its heighth, its rise & run,

I’ve information & belief — non solus comments now, & here, sed etiam then, & there

(Darkly biting, acerbic, jaded, starkly mocking, pessimistic, or uninterested to a one) — 

That you calibrate a fondness always less than what you could (or couldn’t) care.

To be successful in the telling, to such a cynic as yourself, about a topic you eschew

— i.e. your Work, whose defense of Fundamental Virtue delights all those it teaches, still— 

Is difficult enough.  How much more so to get from there to somehow showing you

— & then of course to be as good — as I am sure you would — in my dreams I can, & will —  

But thank you, thank you, Mr. Lehrer. To work for Peace in such a warlike world requires —  inspiration — 

& thank you yet again because to not despair one sometimes needs — corroboration — 

by Johanna Faust

sent c/o dmdb.org & 

posted to Let’s Do & Say We Did

letsdoandsaywedid.blogspot.com 

September 8, 2019