Rebuild My Church: A Poem for St. Francis

Statue of St. Francis of Assisi in the courtyard of the Old North Church in the North End of Boston.
31 October 2014, 14:04:08
https://www.flickr.com/photos/feeney1982/15666850668/
MK Feeney
(CC BY 2.0)

Today we celebrate St. Francis, founder of the Order of Friars Minor, saint most often associated with animals due his love for all creation. To help us remember St. Francis, here is a poem from my book, The Green Man.

St. Francis

“Rebuild my church,” were the words you heard that day.
They rang throughout your young, Italian ears.
Then you came down with a case of holy tears,
Believing it was your family’s job to pay
To rebuild a fallen chapel where it lay
Alone, unused, suffused with earthly fear.
Your father brought you to court, which made you tear
The very clothes from your back and walk away.
And so, you went among the twittering birds,
Making Lady Poverty your loving wife.
You preached to all God’s creatures whom you met,
And saw the Gospel was more than just mere words.
This made you give the Word every ounce of your life,
Thus you built up the Church to be holy and Cosmic.