PRIOR TO TERCE.

MONKS AND A NOVICE IN AN ABBEY.

The black robed monks
genuflect towards
the altar

then bow
to each other
then take their places

in the choir.
I weed the grave
of an old French monk

in the monk's cemetery,
holding up
the bright red poppy

like a pagan's head.
The old peasant monk
sits in the stall

at the back of the church
where the lay brothers
used to sit

in the old days,
he stares
at the spot

on the flagstone floor
where sunlight
comes and lays.