Selections from “Franciscan Notes”

UPPER CHURCH

Let the notes begin, and the blue:xylophone, glockenspiel, celesteone lonely violinand the spook-house whoosh of the ondes martenot.. ..

And the starry blue, that protectsnot only Marysidesaddle on her donkey into Egypt,but this man, cauterized by Brother Fire,

who says—the music drivinglike hard rain—that if, unrecognized,soaked with mud, tormented by hunger,he was beaten and driven awayfrom his own cloister, into the roaring night,

and he accepted it,that would be perfect joy;and who becomes (in spiteor because of this?)

our model of transparence toward all that is.

LOWER CHURCH

Dread advances. Wedded to stone.Cringing against the pedestals soaring.

How can they be so tall then, and the vaultso very, very low?

Once I walked into daylight, but the stones called to me,only we will rock you lovingly, after you’re dead.

If their converging weight could press the juiceout of me, to express

the bottom of things.. .. But I can only expel itby gestures, cries, or spasms. I impel it.

If there were a crack in the stones, it would only letwhat’s left of me seep out, or a greater nothingness enter.

Be very still then. Stillerthan an egg. Brother Leo

is still nearby, not buried alive; and somewherea ghostly flight of snowy plovers skims the sand.

Twice, conquering, I’ve crossed over.

BLESSING OF THE ANIMALS

Oh you who preached to the double orchestrahalf-hidden in the round tree,

consider, if you will, a little namesake,Leo, who found the querencia of his dyingin the violently tall white stand of summer grassat the back of the neighbors’ yard.He lay there all day, waiting.What were his thoughts? Was it for himselfor for us, he came back, when we called at twilight, his poor cancerous paw swollen to double size?

(Then flew away, into the four directions,making the sign of the Cross.)