St. Mary’s Home                                                                                                                    

 …’P’ is for       presence.       ‘N’ is for        now

‘W’ is for        wait for me, I’ll be in Cairo before dawn…

 

What makes me listen

                           …Let us pray:

 

is not your voice,

                           “Our Mother, Queen of of the Cards…                       

 

not the choice or flush of words.

                           …be our nest and pyre…”

 

I listen solely to your lips,

a wingless flight…a pause here,

 

a pause there,  on each a butterfly

settled to lay her store of eggs and

 

be away into the late afternoon 

running off the world’s edge

 

like an incessant prayer.  … Let it be here, Let it

be here…   I listen with my eyes

 

till the clock in the hall strikes four, then five,

till a lady in white linen stands waiting at the door.