Long Lourdes Poems

May 29, 1957: …have to think about getting a thesis director…know no professor yet in the department…someone suggested i get hold of Derek Fogg for an intro to the big guns in the philosophisches Seminar…can't...

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Do you know of the icon of "The Black Madonna"?
   She is the Patron of Poland to this day.
   It is not the icon I write about
   But, the...

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The blue hour takes root ...

There is the dark wing of the steamer,
Which takes the open sea, and carries away its regrets,
Tiny passengers, waving handkerchiefs
And the seagulls passing and passing again.
Heavy rusty chains, in heaps...

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Destination 
A historical place
But these Gettysburg landings
A place of race
 
The signals our droids
To the Kestrels they return
For their cargo on board
To them will be, infinitive burn
 
Over Pennsylvanian lands
These USAF ships fly
To rid these...

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Surrounded by seven cherubs of cheer,
Just recently passing my 100th year,
I’ve been standing here on this perch,
In Little Falls, MN’s Our Lady of Lourdes church.

Most of the day I’m alone simply pining away,
Surrounded by stained...

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Golden Roses 


...to one who has faith, no explanation is necessary...to one without faith, no explanation is possible...Thomas Aquinas. 


Roses side by side where the grotto stood
A golden garden not seen by their eyes
Bernadette could...

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Tomorrow that chair will be empty

the laughter we shared would be gone

today I wave as I walk far

pretending I'm still standing tall

Each hug ,every smile in a yesterday

is the memory I'm leaving behind

a goodbye beneath...

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Translation below

Valse des morts


Je valse
Je valse, valse, valse
le journée, la nuit
Le long des rues
Le long de la rivière
Je valse jusqu'à ce que je ressens la douleur
partout, partout, sur moi
la pluie tombe sur ma douleur
Je murmure...

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I live in a big city where the mother earth blessed us
with the friendly climate, refreshing greeneries and crops
So you can enjoy the serene beauty and forget stress
Since it's a rainfed area,farming relies on rain...

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Women in my family
were immigrants, as history records.
Grandmother Rosamond was born in Italy.
Marceline was French and traveled from Lourdes.

My mother, Jaqueline, was wed at seventeen.
A city girl who became a young farmer's wife.
Many valuable traits...

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1858
Southwestern France
Mother Mary appeared 18 times
Young woman Bernadette Soubirous
Announcing: “I am the Immaculate Conception”
Mother Mary helped Bernadette
Discover a hidden spring of grotto
That Spring was soon to become
Fountain of faith, hope
Healing for millions of pilgrims

Lourdes, truly...

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The smile was what you’d notice first
Before you’d even catch
The necklace and the earrings, which,
Of course, just had to match.

The stylish silver hair cut short
You’d note ‘cause it was thick
And then you’d focus on the...

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