Maravilla

      “...Jos...eph...the bird called...a high pitching song...”

                           An Enfilade

Once you ran around a mountain

Palette white with ice and cold

Then fled before exploding fiery

Red lava’s belch of sulfur mould.

Once you ran around a mountain

Palette black with stone and sun

Then fled steam spewing sprays

Echoing tormented rumble run.

Once you ran around a mountain

Palette scarlet with lightning clouds

Then fled a screaming beggar man  

Pouring forth gated songs in crowds.  

Once you ran around the mountain

Palette white with creeping bougainvillea

Flooding an hour glass and leather belt

Caressing tiny yellow, orange maravilla.

                                              (c) 2/11/13

3/21/13  It started yesterday.  I kept thinking about this poem that I had written—more specifically ‘creeping bougainvillea’.  The colors yellow and orange kept haunting me too.  At first I thought: Are there species that are yellow and orange?  I only knew of pink and white ones.  When I wrote the poem my first thought of different colors was Garcia Lorca’s use of color in his poems and then Adélia Prado’s inclusion of the ordinary. 

The overall poem initially was a love song to Joseph Ratzinger from God and from me when I learned that he was resigning. I have great gratitude, respect and compassion for him and what he has done. He is a very humble man.   I can only reflect on what it has cost this man to serve God’s people as priest, bishop, cardinal and pope.  Originally each stanza represented a pondering of the mountains of his life.  First as a boy, then as priest, then as bishop/cardinal, and then as pope.  The last line was a reflection on his love for the contemplative orders and prayer.  Every symbol seemed obvious except the bougainvillea and tiny yellow, orange maravilla.

Here is what I learned today 3/21/13:

Before I begin: I remind you that I wrote the poem BEFORE the selection of a new pope.

Bougainvillea come from South America.  They belong to the four o’clock family.  Buenos Aires is four hours behind Rome. They have tiny flowers.  The yellow type below is more gold in color [The papal flag] and the orange maravilla  in Tel Aviv where Mt. Carmel is.   Maravilla is Spanish for ‘wonder’.

  [And our present pope is from South America!  I did not know that when all of this was written.]                                  

          Maravillas are also flowers: ‘four o’clock flowers.’ 
From a blog: Four O’clock were one of my Mother’s favorites. She enjoyed the bright trumpet shaped flowers. She told me stories that when she was a young child, she use to make necklaces of the Four O’clock flowers. She would connect each trumpet together with a string! Four O’clock got their name because it opens in mid-afternoon and it remains open overnight, and closes in early morning. They will also remain open on cloudy days. My Mom noticed they also have a stronger fragrance in Mexico than in the U.S.
Four O’clock make an attractive hedge or border. Flower colors include white, red, pink, yellow, and some two-toned blooms. Because the flowers are open during the evening, I recommend you place them in areas where people will see them in late afternoon to early evening hours.
Not only is the Four O’clock flower beautiful to see, but it has medicinal properties too!
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"Maravilla" is not a specific species of flower, but refers to how several species of large colorful flower are used. The term "maravilla" describes the function of the flower as part of the costume of women flamenco dancers. The maravilla is typically worn pinned in the hair on the back or sides of the head. Two varieties of yellow flower, calendula and yellow maravilla, also carry the common name maravilla. Both are used as decorative flowers by flamenco dancers.

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At this very moment, 12:19, Thursday afternoon, 3/21/13  one of the rock doves is cooing.  A very beautiful pair resides in the hedge at the back of the yard.

Perhaps I should re-title the poem: ‘Wonder.’
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[I thought deeply of this gift today the fifth day of the Christmas Novena to St. Joseph.  Isn’t it wonderful that God has graced us not only with a Joseph as pope but two of them?  St. Joseph pray for the Church, for the popes and for us.  Deo gratias!]