Return

Will men understand the mysterious language of those tears?                                                              Pope Pius XII October 17, 1954

  
I went there

Basilica Santuario Madonna Delle Lacrime 

Siracusa, Sicily

Weeping Madonna

housed in the architecture of a tear

I took a photo there

ignorant of its meaning

until now

when asked to fill a space with poetry

and now

I want to know the meaning of those tears

Does she weep for His suffering

or for the plight of a humanity

trying to return to God?

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NaPoWriMo Day 4 prompt.  I took my own photo of the Basilica Santuario Madonna Delle Lacrime in October 2019, not knowing that it was home of the weeping Madonna.  

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Prayer Mountain

We hike in the morning before it was too hot. Yet the sweat pours out during the many steps up the side of Prayer Mountain. People come here to pray, to find deliverance in this Christian nation of Ghana. Before we reach the top there are rocks that are weeping like the Weeping Rock of Zion. When we come to the end of the trail we are on a flat plateau of smooth indented stone. There is testimony that the waters collecting on the rock have healing powers.

The way down is quicker. The struggle up was difficult but “these memories were left here with the trees” as we pass by more pilgrims on their way up with their own struggles. Each step a prayer.

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dVerse prompt to use Jo Harjo quote. Written after a climb up Prayer Mountain in Ghana.