FROM A WOMAN’S LIFE

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