1315, Master of Saint Cecelia
San Francesco, you are so small,
head in a simple halo
hands pierced in prayer up
to Maria and her one son.
As a toddler, Gesú is a small adult
holding a colored bird
making a two-fingered sign
across her bosomy chest.
•
Francesco, holding the paw
of the great Wolf of Gubbio,
his nails sunk
deep into your palm.
This trust
attracted you
to pain
and the joy within it.
~Appeared first in Waterwalking in Berkeley and has been republished in the new book Dreams of the return