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