"The Gathering"
      (or "The Best of Wasted Times")

           by C.R. Patton Jr.


The gathering garnered together a consanguine congregation
Which contiguously corralled the conflagration that was a campfire,
Misleading the unwary wanderer into a sense there was more in store,
Before eviscerating him of these pretensions and allowing him to see 
That this constituency is about nothing, much like "Seinfeld" or "Mary Tyler Moore".  
But indeed for those who've lived it, for those many of us who have; 
There is no better usage wherefore that tempest doth fuget
Than to sit and watch the flicker than to sit and watch the flame 
With our near and dear around us and included in those folds 
Is the one we know and remember as our shaman of an uncle; 
The one who's appellation matches Sir Clinton of the Reynolds.  
And we'll sit with him and others and know there's nothing we'd'ruther 
Do but wallow in the shallow fire's ring and gather for the passage
Of the best of wasted times.