Immigration (WC)

(Wendy Cabell, November 8, 2021, feast day of (above) Our Lady of Good Guard (connected Basilica has fascinating history*), Synaxis of the  Archangel Micheal and the Other Bodiless Powers, Saint William of Bourges and Blessed Isabella of France and other Saints of Evry, feast day of  All Deceased Dominicans and of All Saints of  Wales, feast day of Saint Cybi, Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity, Blessed John Duns Scotis, and Blessed Maria Crucified Satellico. On the Jewish calendar today commemorates the Zachariah's prophesy in Zachariah 7-8; also Purim Teveryah. Image from here.)

Immigration

(Fall, 2021, after the funeral of my Great-Uncle Art)

My great-grandmother, Elizabeth Otten, moved from her native Germany to the US in the 1920's, opening her own restaurant. She lost it in the Great Depression and became manager instead. Throughout it all, a Rosary nestled in her apron pocket. Even during her busy workday, she'd stop right where she was and pray its beads whenever a brief moment allowed.

Our family still has one of the little creme pitchers that helped set the tables in Grandma Otten's restaurant. But the real heirloom has been a continued family devotion to the Rosary. In September of 2021 my great-uncle Art passed away, peacefully while praying the Rosary with his children. I left his funeral with a strange hope, where grief should have dwelt.

       Ascending

  Mary’s Mountain

you leave footholds.     

  

Orphaned pitcher--      

      cream rises

        to top.

*From Wikipedia: The Notre-Dame-de-Bonne-Garde basilica was preceded by a chapel dating back to the days of the Christianization of Île-de-France, built in the oldest place of Marian worship in the region: according to legend, the druids venerated a statue of the Virgin there. even before the passage of Saint Denis, who explained to them that Mary is the mother of Jesus Christ, and that Isaiah's prophecy (7; 14) had already been fulfilled...AA Priscus, chief of the Carnutes tribe, would have requested the statue or its replica and would have transported it to Chartres, where it would be at the origin of the Notre-Dame de Chartres cathedral. According to the canons of the cathedral of Chartres, oaks from Longpont would have been used for the framework of the cathedral, undoubtedly because of the spiritual power emanating from this place in the imagination of the contemporaries...A vestige of the mysterious statue of the Gauls would also remain; it would be embedded in the right leg and foot of the statue of Notre-Dame-de-Bonne-Garde in the axis chapel, which is dedicated to it.”

**Prompted by William Seiyo Shehan’s Virtual Haiku Workshops (September and October 2021), to create a haiku after experiencing Buddist death meditation, and create a haibun on topic of choice.