Issue Date: May 14, 2004
POETRY
For Those Who Labor Below Union Wage
For those who wake to
work with dark I pray an old astronomers moon, with clouds as
thin as bridal veil, A one-car bridge over quieted river, stars
arcing horizon to horizon line, sufficient to bless their graveyard
shift
* * *
And for those who wake to work first light I
pray that same moon, but southward, a wafer-thin-as-Communion
moon, and sun, centered suddenly overhead, a
before-you-even-know-it noon, and all green lights to lead them home.
* * *
For those who rise to work between the
hours of dusk and dark, I pray a haloed sun at set, an aureole, leaf
gold as a Byzantine icon -- promise of moonlight by break time, a
clarity of air that only angels breathe, greetings of workers,
both coming and going.
-- Chet Corey Bloomington, Minn.
National Catholic Reporter, May 14, 2004 |