THE VIRGIN'S NAME WAS MARY

THE VIRGIN'S NAME WAS MARY

Your name is as oil poured out

on our smarting spirits,

on our groaning hearts,

O Mary,

your name is oasis in our wasteland of waiting,

it is wine after the black bread of regret,

after love's white fast.

Your name is like a silence full of bells.

Mary, your name is a pause in song,

it is the moment before flight,

your name is a waterfall of fragrance,

it is a crystal dance of sound,

Mary,

your name is a basilica of cool darkness

for the frightened, the deserters

who have no place to pray.

Your name is as oil poured out

on the troubled waters of the world.

Your name is like a silence full of bells. 

Mother M Francis PCC

Friar. April 1974. Used with permission