Tenderness by Derrick Austin

Author:Derrick Austin [Austin, Derrick]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BOA Editions Ltd.
Published: 2021-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

7. Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe

I want to do it for my mother,

Rubi said.

We found an empty aisle and joined O Mary, Mother of Names,

the service.

Unchurched, unbaptized, polite,

I tried following

along but fell back with Marcelo. the many

JD, in the row behind us,

never stood, unmoved

by a God who’s done many no good. hemmed to your

starry cloak,

It’s the order I adored:

listening to the call- how many shine

and-response, watching Rubi,

one sea rose among many, still?

rise and kneel, pray and speak

to old rhythms

washing over us. Even those of us O Mary, Mother of Leaving

seated, unable to speak,

were offered a hand, a few words of greeting. Roses in Your Wake—

I was a stranger,

and they welcomed me. A man crawled O Mary,

on his knees

toward the Virgin’s image. Mother of America,

He must have worn

his joints and flesh for a while,

supported by a sister I pray for peace of mind.

or friend. I’d only ever seen

this in paintings

or documentaries.

Watching him,

I recalled statues we saw

climbing to the original church:American soil

indigenous men, women, children

offering all will one day claim me,

they have—cloth, fruit,

freedom—to the Virgin.hopefully,

The man’s pilgrimage

was not finished

when Rubi told us it’s time to go.not before my time.

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