.
I wondered as a kid brimming
with mid-teen condescension
I wondered from the last row of pews
waiting for Saturday confession
dim light, late sun through stained glass
piercing, red votives up front flickering
at the altar’s right, old men and women
randomly here and there in oak-pew rows
in black babushkas, dresses, suits
as if god had randomly peppered the nave,
all sitting, kneeling, all still but lips
in rosary murmuring Slovak
………….. “Svätá Mária matka Božia,”
and so on,
……………………. “amen.”
the end
of the Hail Mary prayer
which by repetitive osmosis
is the only Slovak I almost never
memorized
………………….…..anyway,
I wondered why.
……………………………. I
now know
……………………………. I too
bye and bye
Jim Culleny
9/27/19
Blink 