“To the Order of Nuns Who Travel with the Circus”
by Virgil Suárez
My wife told me
about them,
a little-known group who way back when
traveled with nomads,
gypsies, those displaced, outcast. A few of them
are here in America.
They work in the circus, offering spiritual grounding
to the rootless. Living
among the travelers, their chapel a trailer.
They also nurse the sick
alligator man, bearded lady, at night they pray to the boy
who is all head, stuck in yellow
liquid, blinking at them through the glowing liquid.
He shows them his tongue.
They close their eyes
to dream of a red flower’s bloom.
Ontario Review #60 | 
