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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The Ear of Dionysius

 

The Ear of Dionysius

echoes through history

of plots to kill the tyrant

voices that echoed

against the chamber

deep in its prison walls

hard to stop the madness

echoing beyond throat

of the oppressed

when democracy ended

 

Across centuries and waters

(now leaving Sicily)

the history of Albania unfolds

fifty years of dictatorship

when clergy and poets died

political opponents

enemies of the state

under surveillance wherever they go

executed or imprisoned

hear their echo

 

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dVerse prompt on the word echo.  Legend of the cave of Dionysius being a prison and the voices of the imprisoned were heard plotting because of the remarkable echoing of this cave.  In October, I stood in the darkness of this cave and practiced my echo voice, then a tour bus group came in and started to sing.  I know there is more to this poem than I have here -how history echoes into the future.