FROM A
WOMAN’S LIFE
What Mary knew was just
enough for the usual day:
pull water, flint fire, bake
bread, smile, pray
The dark orations, sleep, wake,
wait. When pain honed
a nerve,
when birth or dying clotted
an hour, she leaned to the curve
of living, resilient to fear,
laughter, suffering.
Partings are a little death.
Each one’s journey is a thing
wholly without precedent.
She looked at the sky
for compass.
None. She, too,
created a road to travel by.
Sister
Maura SSND
Sign.
May 1982
Used with permission