Invocation harp

For Seamus Heaney

The old scarfed bohemian house wives
the 6 o'clock morning mass dark and 20 below
dad drove me - the altar to serve
The slightly sour smell of wine
pored carefully into chalices
"The patted lips" of the priest
much marble and gold
and I lived in mystery.

                -Jack Vaughan, Sept. 2013