芥子第47期 - Inside the Basilica del Voto Nacional, Quito, Ecuador (鄭至麗)

Inside the Basilica del Voto Nacional in Quito, Ecuador

鄭至麗

1.

With a throng of worshipers,
I too came forward to venerate the icon --
a traveling portrait of Mary,
Our Lady of Guadalupe,
her eyes down cast, her dark hair
wrapped in a clay-colored veil,
and her outer garment star-studded.

I saw in Mary
a small girl I met
in Punta Ahuano, a quechua village
on the Napo River.

Dressed in a white short-sleeve shirt,
a black skirt, long white socks,
a pair of sneakers.

Her shy face glowed
like the moon.

2.

I saw a young man
with no legs
proceeded to the chapel on two hands.

His upper body joined the end of
the confessional line.

The priest listened
seemingly
from the eternity

at the other end.

原載於 VoiceCatcher, Winter 2013