MARY COMPARED TO A MOTHER BIRD

MARY COMPARED TO A MOTHER BIRD

This single-hearted Mother is all eyes;

a circling bird on daylong, nightlong wings

yearning above a bone-branched paradise

where nests her young among our straw-gold strings,

or, shuttling through the wind, she weaves a roof

seamless as peace against all wild-flown thieves,

then soars above crossed boughs in constant proof

that all her love lies latched there under leaves.

Here, now she hovers, now in mid-air floats,

dips from the sun's gold dish a sacred fare,

then drops the bright bread to the open throats,

her song a mild and flowing sanctus* where

she magnifies the tree from leaf to root.

(Safe swings the nest, sing blessed is the fruit.)

Sister Agnes CSJ

America. May 1954

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*holy

From 'A Silence full of bells'