Assisi
Of all the towns offered
in the Italian countryside
the weight carried
by the star
of Umbria
casts the longest shadow.
All the way to Rome,
as it once did
the life, the stories, the words
leave every road weary pilgrim
with some shard
of a message infused within.
If not through encounter
then via the road of commerce
endured by all
without exception –
the Tau, the Assisi Cross,
the overpriced meals
available for cash or plastic.
As Jesus calls
it is not the self-satisfied
with map and cheque book
that ultimately perceive
the voice in the wind
in the chapel, in the street
It is as usual
the humble, the contrite, the blessed
that are not waylaid
not because they
have become
but because they are
attentive, listening, silent.
The donkey, the sparrow, the wolf
and the butterfly speak to me also
of the vastness of the Kingdom
the glory of its coming
and I move step by step
as my path unknown
unfolds before me.
