IRISH-AMERICAN-L Archives

From: "Jean R." <>
Subject: "The Little Flower's Disciple" -- John MONTAGUE - Brooklyn, NY>>Garvahey, Co. Tyrone
Date: Sun, 21 May 2006 09:47:30 -0700

THE LITTLE FLOWER'S DISCIPLE

I
Old lady, I now celebrate
to whom I owe so much;
bending over me in darkness
a scaly tenderness of touch

skin of bony arm and elbow
sandpapered with work:
because things be to be done
and simplicity did not shirk

the helpless, hopeless task
of maintaining a family farm,
which meant, by legal fiction,
maintaining a family name.

The thongless man's boots,
the shapeless bag apron:
would your favourite saint
accept the harness of humiliation
you bore constantly until
the hiss of milk into your pail
became as lonely a prayer as
your vigil at the altar rail.

Roses showering from heaven
upon Her uncorrupted body
after death, celebrated
the Little Flower's sanctity

and through the latticed grill
of your patron's enclosed order
an old French nun once threw me
a tiny sack of lavender.

So from the pressed herbs
of your least memory, sweetness exudes:
that of the meek and the selfless,
who should be comforted.

-- John Montague, b. 1929 Brooklyn, NY, brought up in Garvahey, Co. Tyrone.

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• "The Little Flower's Disciple" -- John MONTAGUE - Brooklyn, NY>>Garvahey, Co. Tyrone by "Jean R." <>