Greensides Farm, Marmora
the entrance unpaved
you are greeted by plywood outhouses
the tiny store selling booklets and baubles
beside the buggy swamp
is long closed
park where you like
the lot is empty
a small farmhouse, weathered picnic tables
rough shed for votive candles
fields below the wooded hills
are well kept
close mowing reveals tiny strawberries
for feasting birds
unimpressive, humble
the hordes of worshippers
evaporated with time
and intentional disarray
like a casually unkempt
English garden
cracked dioramas at the Stations of the Cross
patiently wait on pilgrim trails in the woods
Mary visits here!
why does She not float daily
above the Vatican?
or even the nearby Catholic church
which doesn’t sanction Her?
Mary must prefer the pure of heart
the simple, the unadorned
unmarred by millennia of human
abuse and misunderstanding
of Her message and gifts
When young I felt like Basho
returned to meet the light
Now I feel like William Blake
Returned to urge this world to wake
loved the poem! I especially liked the lines inquiring about Mary's not appearing above the Vatican and your conclusion.
- Henry Martinuk
pic from Trip Advisor of Greensides Farm, Marmora, Ontario
