Angela Kirby
Father Shaughnessey
Together we are studying The Mystical Body of Christ,
all of us, not least Father Shaughnessey, floundering.
There is ink on the coconut-matting, the sun beatifies him
with dust and we, the reluctantly fasting Children of Mary,
are making a meal of him, poor red-faced, red-haired boy,
fresh out of Maynooth and way out of his depth.
His Adam's apple, a stonker, breaks into a jig, he grows
cack-handed, drops the encyclical, flushes, sweats
but, still game, with lips moving in silent prayer,
he laces string to-and-fro across the classroom
to illustrate Christ's place in the Cosmos. This baffles us
and leaves him caught, close to tears, at the centre of the web.
Oh, Father Shaughnessey, we love you, we are aghast,
we mourn, repent, unwind you tenderly.
all of us, not least Father Shaughnessey, floundering.
There is ink on the coconut-matting, the sun beatifies him
with dust and we, the reluctantly fasting Children of Mary,
are making a meal of him, poor red-faced, red-haired boy,
fresh out of Maynooth and way out of his depth.
His Adam's apple, a stonker, breaks into a jig, he grows
cack-handed, drops the encyclical, flushes, sweats
but, still game, with lips moving in silent prayer,
he laces string to-and-fro across the classroom
to illustrate Christ's place in the Cosmos. This baffles us
and leaves him caught, close to tears, at the centre of the web.
Oh, Father Shaughnessey, we love you, we are aghast,
we mourn, repent, unwind you tenderly.
Page(s) 25
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