Читать книгу Pilgrim’s Gait - David Craig - Страница 9

—in Carrollton, OH

The theologian’s old Victorian sunroom

windows—stack of locutions on the sill.

Having been appointed by the Bishop,

he just shook his head.

We went out to play hoops with his kids:

side yard, cracked asphalt, full court.

He’d built a monastery, because a change

is coming: huge dormitories, beautiful church—

Mark’s ark, I kidded him, still empty

for the most part, just a few religious

in a new order. But the gesture!

It was rich: like our lives, what we hope to fill—

Francis’s fools!

Do it again! Do it again!

Let our hearts be the flagstone

everyone walks on!

As a young family, ours used to follow his

around Hopedale’s Sacred Heart Church,

Eucharistic procession. Absurd Catholics,

dressing up the present in banners, deacon’s garb,

as if we know what gives it expression!

How many heroes we’ve known!

Bounce the ball, young one.

Bounce the ball.