Our Lady of A and E – for C. H

Beads and chaplets, Our Lady invoked.
Novenas at nightfall, fall on our knees.
Angelus Bell – noon time sounds,
peal in the call to Mass – ring of eight resounds.

And yet our community, our extended family
we hurt each other
we harm ourselves.

This small boy so hopeful, so kind
so beloved of his grandma
serving at Mass in his Alb, now serving in his cell at her Majesty’s pleasure.

Our extended family.
The thoughts of one are the thoughts of us all.
The joy of one is the joy of us all.
The sins of one are the sins of us all.

We are responsible for each other,
we bear the burden of each other’s lives
not one of us lives in isolation.

The struggle of years.
Now she – not a mother yet mothers and fathers this boy.
How she – not a mother sits in A and E
with the bleeding boy.

How she  - not a mother
answers the cry for help at 2 am, 3 am, 4 am
and comes selflessly barefoot in her shift.
Bowed and burned out, bent with a mother’s care and concern
A mother’s heart pierced with sorrow.

How she not the one who bore this child
bears him up.
Mothers her own mother,
Mothers her sister,
Mothers her nephew.

Who will mother this mother?
Who will bear up and care for her soul?
Who will bind up her bruised and bloodied heart?
I will.
Please God You do too.





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