Monday, September 20, 2021

grotto of St. Dymphna


(actually likenesses show her pretty happy; she is matron saint of the mentally ill...)

 

weeds neglected

dirt smeared on concrete molding

smudges of blood mixed in

no one can guess their source

the question lost to the failing faith

of the previous century

 

the image, hunched, recoiling

as if from a gaggle of marauding geese

as if life itself had become a burden

air and the sun, curses, crosses

 

on her face

a fleck of an impish grin

breaking through an awful grimace

an ounce of grace

rained on her perpetually-breaking heart

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