It’s rhyme time! The following are the first two stanzas of a variety of commissioned poems we have created:

 

For former Virginia US Senator Chuck Robb, on the occasion of his retirement

 

This moonlit March night, we celebrate

   a great man, a statesman, a steadfast friend

The leader who sparked us to recreate

   a new Virginia, where together we turned the long bend.

 

For a quarter-century, he gave us his undaunted opinion

   unfurling the good in his round-the-clock job

This night, we raise an ooh-rah in the grand Old Dominion

   for our quiet fighter, calm igniter:  Charles S. Robb.

 

 

 

For a high-profile attorney on the occasion of his 60th Birthday

 

There once was a man from Steel City

Charming and chipper and witty

    Tom, his name

    Golf and craps, his game 

Now let’s get to the real nitty-gritty.

 

At the Burgh’s swanky school Shady Side

He wore the school colors with pride

    His wrestler’s grasp

    Could make the crowds gasp            

He corralled featherweights till they cried. . .

 

 

 

For a teen girl on the occasion of her Bat Mitzvah

 

We celebrate today another first

In the life of the girl who’s the spark for this verse

Our exciting, exuberant, extraordinary Jordann

And this world that she’s swept through. . .and leapt through. . . and scored in!

 

From shooting long baskets to making great friends

To setting the pace with her keen fashion trends

From shopping. . .frog-hopping. . .to Bros Brian and Kenny

Her life’s a mosaic, and her colors are many. . .

 

 

 

For a best man's toast on the occasion of his brother’s wedding

 

Oh, the planets line up in a fortunate way

On this balmy beach day in a magical May

To herald the hitching of our friends Pam and Brian

A bright Capricorn and her breezy Aquarian.

 

Has ever there been a more blendable couple

Sturdy, like oak; yet like sea grass, so supple?

She with her class, and he with his charms—

These two, it’s true, hold the world in their arms. . .

 

 

 

For a minister on the occasion of his retirement

 

In the year ’34, on January’s Fifth Day

‘Midst the lush, rolling hills of central P-A

On the banks of the sinuous Susquehanna

The world was hurled one amazing banana!

 

It must have been an offering from the Heavens

This buoyant babe born to the family Evans

George and Carrie were smitten with their smiley boy

George Junior, they named him, as they bid him ahoy. . .