Special of the Day on a Very Special Day

Special of the Day on a Very Special Day

(12 January 2023)

The selfless heroes of the Wagner Group
Have won – and Soledar is in their hands.
This shouldn’t be reported as a scoop.
Anyone in the world who understands
Should have foreseen that NATO’s vain demands
Could never make the Ukronazis win.
The propaganda shifts like windblown sands.
Is this a smirk I’m wearing? Just a grin.
In Heaven, Russian saints ignored the spin
And relayed to their comrades vital grace.
The enemy, awash in Western sin,
Had no saints on his side, and yielded place.
Prigozhin, I attest here openly:
You served up one delicious victory!

–Tom Riley

(Yevgeny Prigozhin, who governs the Wagner Private Military Corporation, also runs a prominent Russian catering operation.)

Church of QVC

Church of QVC

Vainly professing Christianity,
She practices another faith instead:
She worships at the Church of QVC.

The TV doesn’t make her bend the knee.
She spends and spends – and thus her god is fed.
Vainly professing Christianity

Interferes not at all, as all can see.
Aloud on screen are sacred pitches read.
She worships at the Church of QVC.

Mammon beholds and smiles indulgently.
“Hey, don’t mind me, dear lady! Go ahead
Vainly professing Christianity!

I’m thrilled to view the rank hypocrisy.
I’m glad to see that principle has fled.”
She worships at the Church of QVC—

And conscience, murdered, doesn’t need to be
Involved. Along the broad path is she sped,
Vainly professing Christianity.
She worships at the Church of QVC.

–Tom Riley

Bob and Larry and Phil and Satan

Bob and Larry and Phil and Satan

Phil Vischer is a pro-abort? So what?
I always knew that Veggie Tales was gay.
I saw Bob ogling poor sad Larry’s butt
And scheming to slip into it someday.
The gutless things that veggies used to say
Back at that time were nothing like the sword
Of Scripture, nothing like the Jesus Way.
With holy zeal they were not in accord.
So, when Phil, with his queer smile, leaps aboard
The baby-killing train, now much in style,
I’m not surprised. For lesser things he’s whored.
Already he has walked the Devil’s aisle
And kissed ass in the Devil’s stinking wedding.
He’ll do worse still. So anyhow I’m betting.

–Tom Riley

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving

For this small scrap of comfort I give thanks
Today: our global tyrants are as dumb
As any box of rocks. They may have tanks
And bombs, but now their threats grow wearisome.
Nations not under that vast, sweaty thumb
Are challenging the flimsy rules-based order
Preached by our gang of psychos. How ho-hum
The sermon’s grown on every distant border!
I pray the rebels give these creeps no quarter.
I pray the pedophilic tranny crew
Learn that the waiting Devil is a hoarder
Of just such souls as theirs. A harsh one, too.
Unrest, though unreported, rules the ranks.
For this above all else I now give thanks.

–Tom Riley

Ecclesia Castratorum

Ecclesia Castratorum

Before the Western Church endured castration—
Invited it, in truth, and with a smile—
Then could a man be happy in his station
Even while foes planned martyrdom by guile.
Then could conquistadors advance in style
Against the seat of bloody sacrifice.
The Rule of Christ as Judge brooked no denial—
And it was good, though only rarely nice.
Now the pope turns to fairies for advice
And preaches as his models hags perverse
Beyond belief. Our spiritual lice
Multiply, drinking deep of Adam’s curse.
We hold on, difficult to reassure—
But does a remnant actually endure?

–Tom Riley

St. Vlad

St. Vlad

You see clear halo there about his head.
Even foul enemies at New York Post
Acknowledge thoroughly, not just almost,
In him fierce sanctity that fills with dread
Vast demon horde. How many now have fled!
This is because behind him Holy Ghost
Is operating. NATO soon is toast.
Put silly Western lies at last to bed.
And every moment, fans, is icon now.
Saints suffer and are endlessly maligned.
Lacking in neurons, Biden has a cow—
Since overcoming God is task assigned.
Vlad, targeted, still struggles on somehow.
So victory is finally defined.

–Tom Riley

Instructions from the Grand Inquisitor

Instructions from the Grand Inquisitor

Just say what
you think. A heretic’s better
than a hypocrite.

–Tom Riley

De Lazaro Parabolico

De Lazaro Parabolico

Across the Great Abyss you view your foes.
In life, you always knew this day would come.
I’m preaching justice here. How wearisome
My mortal voice must sound, its highs and lows
So distant from the aural wine that flows
Where you reside! Indeed, I would be dumb
And keep my words from adding to the sum
Of human chattiness: this goodness knows.
But, oh, I need to comment on your joy
In lines that number twice the holy seven
Even if klutzy errors do annoy
The well-tuned ears of those who know the Leaven
Of Paradise! I’m glad for you, dear boy:
The best revenge is looking down from Heaven.

–Tom Riley

Vladimir

Vladimir

Yes, rivals had to be eliminated.
When you would save your people, that comes first.
The class of boyars then was subjugated.
Death was of course inflicted on the worst.
A long, dark past, devoted yet accursed,
Yielded to half-sincere renunciation.
A new faith was embraced – not in a burst
Of song, but through considered calculation.
Did hostile empires rise in detestation
Of what you had accomplished for the Rus?
An ally in the midst of complication
Appeared – and neutral nations just hung loose.
Loud enemies cried out: “Your armies stall!”
No, NATO never understood at all.

–Tom Riley

(In November 2016, in Moscow, Putin unveiled a statue of Vladimir the Great.)

Book of Acts

Book of Acts

The Book of Acts was once my favorite text.
Times change. Now Paul and Silas are a bore.
The spiritual muscles that they flexed
Back in the day impress me now no more.
They overturn what I would now restore.
They revolutionize what functioned fine.
When Paul went to the Gentiles, what a door
He opened. Chaos followed – by design.
Anyhow, such a view right now is mine.
Tomorrow I may alter once again.
Paul’s preachiness may slap me into line.
I’ve known such quick correction now and then.
Perspective may be what the ego lacks
When called upon to read the Book of Acts.

–Tom Riley