God! What a nice house you have!
\nI saw staff washing and ironing sheets
\nin quarters, adjacent to the hall
\nwe were touring,
\nwith medieval pictures of pastoral
\nEurope.
\nRopes of red and gold.
\nThe heavy scent of ancient oil
\nin a dank, musty travelogue
\nof the dark ages.
\nA lotus opening on the water.
\nThe shimmer of time has changed.
\nThe effervescence of our world
\nwandering among icons seven centuries old.<\/p>\n
And there, across the portico,
\nbetween gawking tourists, sunlight,
\nnuns washing and ironing
\nthe sheets of the Vatican.
\nWhat a day!
\nBefore entering I saw boys and girls
\ngoing off to school,
\noutside the Sistine Chapel.
\nThe chatter of happy children.<\/p>\n
I stood by the solid wall enclosing
\nthe apartments of holiness,
\nadmiring the little weeds
\ngrowing from the crumbling stone,
\nand in my soul a candle burning
\nin a reverie of God,
\nso vast and beautiful
\nabove the Gobi Desert,
\nthe vast latitudes of the Pacific,
\nthe little houses of Chili,
\nand the white sheets of the Vatican
\nwashed by the reverent hands
\nof nuns, with love.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
God! What a nice house you have! I saw staff washing and ironing sheets in quarters, adjacent to the hall we were touring, with medieval…<\/p>\n