Shrine of the Blessed Virgin Mary Still Life, Montreal, Canada 1963
alan catlin
Rows of votive candles in glass cups ascend
toward heaven, illuminating relics, rooms
where the faithful have cast aside their crutches
and wheelchairs, rediscovering the mysteries of
walking, straightened curved spines and permanently
bent backs, saying the High Mass in Latin as they
come between the plain, worn wooden pews toward
the altar, staggering, lost in a trance, palsied
fingers shaking, reaching out for the hard Shrine
wafers, the Pentacostal wines locked inside a
series of rooms with no windows and no outside
sources of light; outside, the pilgrims ascend
toward the promised land, over the hard stone steps
on t.heir knees, genuflecting, heads bowed in prayer
as they come, black strings of rosary beads clutched
in their left hands, climbing, they leave dark
spots of blood on the worn smooth stone.
