Ring the Angelus
Bell Sister Lucy,
Feel the rope’s rough pull
Between the soft skin

Of your praying hands.
Smell deep the incense
Left over from mass,
When Father Joseph

With arthritic
Hands, lifted the host,
The Body of Christ,
Above his tonsured

Head; and where the bright
Sunlight shining through
The high windows, caught
The warm flagstone floor

Where the nuns all stood;
and you my sister
In Christ and Christ’s bride,
Pray for my sinful

Soul in the dark world’s
Hold, and think of me
On your bended knees,
And the rosary’s

Touch between finger
And thumb; speak to Him
Who is your life’s light
To set my soul right.