The Beggar of Assisi
POETRY FORMAT, 30 Jan 2017
Gary Corseri – TRANSCEND Media Service
His life was a prayer, a candle, a song.
Barefoot, he trod through showers and sunshine.
Birds alighting on his shoulders wondered:
What manner of man, gentle as a sapling?
It hardly seemed possible—upholding
The world, he had totally surrendered
Worldly goods, ambition, everything fine
Men and women cherish. Did he belong
To us, or was he another species
In a form like ours; but made out of light?
Lightly, he called brother sun, sister moon,
And they shone down intoxicating love:
It purled itself in a brook, rose above
On a hawk’s wing, trilled itself in the tune
The boys sang harvesting; and in the night
It whispered, “Blessed is…oh, blessed is….”
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Dr. Gary Steven Corseri is a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace, Development and Environment. He has published and posted articles, fiction and poems at hundreds of venues, including, TMS (Transcend Media Service), The New York Times, Village Voice, Redbook Magazine and Counterpunch. He has published 2 novels and 2 collections of poetry, and his dramas have been produced on PBS-Atlanta and elsewhere. He has performed his poems at the Carter Presidential Library and Museum and has taught in universities in the US and Japan, and in US public schools and prisons. Contact: Gary_Corseri@comcast.net.
This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 30 Jan 2017.
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