The Eagle and Child . . .

Tolkien and C.S.Lewis and other friends formed a group called the Inklings. They met regularly and read out passages from their current works. Their most famous meeting point was the Eagle and Child pub, known as the Bird and Baby. There is a plaque inside remembering the Inklings.

Where Tolkein and Lewis sat
over glasses filled with cheer
I'd love to go to the Bird & Baby
and pound a pint o' beer
I wonder if their voices
still must echo in that place
to picture them gathered 'round a table
puts a smile across my face
I can almost hear them raise a toast
to a long-spent colloquial night
the pair of weathered and true friends
shared a capital delight
that of sparkling conversation
the most enjoyable of sounds
like heavenly libation
quenching parched and thirsty ground
yes the walls of this yon pub
hold a treasure trove of speech
as interlocutors now above converse
just across the breach
for friends and laughter will surely greet us
when we leave this pub to go
to our home in Heaven's neighborhood
our sins made whiter than the snow
across the veil we'll one day be
as we pass through the door of death
where the joy of sparkling conversation
will never come to an end

susie melkus
06.30.07