TO OUR LADY OF CLERICAL ERRORS
the orphic winds are calling me home
the thumbtacked artwork in the school corridors
of the orphaned children ageing out from the system
and the building is on perpetual loan
where I inherit the wind
and Mary walks with Jesus
where the children throw stones
and when a pebble misses it turns into a white rose
and that’s a legend I made up one day
gazing out the window at
the investiture of snows
who is the king of snow I said
only to myself
to where angels were listening
over the hum of my clerical errors
will the mist be always
Oh Lord of hosts
gather my soul from the file room of the world
that I might recite to the living and the dead
what the white rose said.
mary angela douglas 16 january 2024
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