Fratello O, Poverello, did your feet with blood wounds walk the camino on slippers sewn by Santa Chiara whose golden hair once outshone the sun? And did the holy lamb of God prove more fierce than the beastly wolf whose feral wildness you accepted? What of the birds shrieking in the square you ordered still while you spoke or sang a psalm as they alighted on your arms and on your head? What language did they hear? When the bishop slapped my cheek, bestowing on me your name, Franciscus, how was I able to feel the wolf fed, the palsied boy uncoil his legs, the shunned leper accept your kisses?
Royal Rhodes taught for almost forty years courses on the history of Christianity at Kenyon College. His poems have been published by Amethyst Review, Ekstasis Poetry, The Heart of Flesh, Ekphrastic Review, and The Montreal Review, among others. He is currently working on a volume of collected poems.
Amethyst Review 