December 4, 2013

One poem by Lee Evans

Palm Sunday, long ago


A dozen or so of Our Lady’s Bugs

warm themselves on the sunny glow
of the stained glass panes,
communing with the Light

In Memory of The Armstrong Family

Some crawl on the strips of palm leaves
left by Sunday’s churchgoers,
then fly to the blazing windows

for what exaltation they can withstand

then back to the strips,
which throngs of worshippers shouting hosanna 
flourish from out of the past

while the sexton turns down the thermostat




(A note on the poem: "Our Lady's Bugs" was the original name for what we now call Lady Bugs. According to the legend, there was a plague of aphids that threatened to destroy the crops, so the people prayed to the Virgin Mary and she sent a host of Lady Bugs to eat up the pests. I used the term to sort of harken back through the centuries to medieval times. The Armstrong Family is simply the family in whose memory the stained glass window was donated to the church(Mt. Zion United Methodist Church in Lothian, Maryland); the name is incorporated into the design of the window.)


Lee Evans lives in Bath, Maine, and works for the local YMCA. His poems have appeared in such journals as Contemporary Rhyme, The Christendom Review and Decanto.  His latest collection is available on Lulu.com:  http://www.lulu.com/shop/lee-evans/the-hazards-of-being-useful/paperback/product-20597798.html




1 comment:

  1. An interesting poem. Appreciate the explanatory notes, but the poem is enjoyable with or without them.

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