🚀 go-pugleaf

Reply-To: bq847@yfn.ysu.edu (Pedro J. Saavedra)

I have inflicted this one on you guys several years in a row (written in the
Onegin stanza in case anybody follows such things).  But, since I am compulsive,
I will have to inflict it on you again.


         THE LADY FROM THE SEA
                       I
    I tell this tale just as I know it
    without embellishment or song,
    for more than one devoted poet
    has done so in the Spanish tongue,
    and not too long ago a certain
    young monk and poet - Thomas Merton -
    rendered for us in metric line
    his visit to Our Lady's shrine
    at Cobre. But I am digressing,
    and what I meant to say, of course,
    is you won't find in English verse
    this tale, a fact I think distressing
    because no vision brings more glee
    than Mary coming from the sea.
      
                     II
    Long, long ago - the year won't matter -
    three fishermen went out to fish:
    two white, one black, some say the latter
    was free, some slave. Think what you wish.
    The three had picked the life that Peter
    has followed once, and not the sweeter
    and safer grind of sugar cane
    which in that colony of Spain
    that Cuba was employed so many
    along with slaves as to demand
    few other callings in the land.
    These fishermen, to earn a penny,
    would work from morning until night
    and had no time to rue their plight.
       
                    III
    They took their fragile boat one morning
    into the bay. No one knows why
    they failed to heed the obvious warning
    of clouds which filled the coastal sky.
    As they went out the gales were forming
    and by the time it started storming
    the winds were blowing and the most
    worrisome thing was how the coast
    was almost lost in the horizon.
    These men of Black and Spanish blood
    called on the Mother of their God;
    they thought they never would put eyes on 
    their loved ones, and began to pray
    that Mary would calm down the bay.
       
                 IV
    No sooner had they said their prayer
    in unison, "Mother we've sinned,
    have mercy!" when the ceiling, grayer
    till then became all blue, the wind
    gave one last blow, and disappearing
    left the three fishermen, not fearing,
    but giving thanks for this new calm.
    They now could see the royal palms
    which lined the coast, and at the urging
    of one of them the three began
    to thank the God who so helped man.
    Just then a statue of the Virgin
    came into sight and seemed to float
    towards the starboard of their boat.
  
               V 
    The fishermen took in the statue
    and gave it to the local priest             
    who having read accounts in Matthew
    of miracles showed not the least
    doubt in his mind, and with this clerical
    support the people claimed a miracle
    and wanting Mary's light to shine
    throughout the land, they built a shrine,
    and with a disconcerting clarity
    of purpose chose the copper town
    of Cobre. She has since come down
    to us as Our Lady of Charity,
    and that is how it started, friends,
    but that is not how it all ends.
       
                 VI
    By eighteen-sixty-eight attendance
    at Mary's shrine was seen to swell. 
    That year, the call for independence
    was uttered by Carlos Manuel
    de Cespedes. The town of Yara
    was where with thirty men this para-
    gon of patriotic sentiments
    began the course of the events
    that marked a period of euphoric
    desire for freedom which would claim
    the lives of many men who came
    to seek a part in the historic
    saga, left flocks and sugar cane
    and took up arms to battle Spain.
                   
              VII
    The loyalists, who loved Iberia,
    with the peninsulars' tough pride
    began to try to spread hysteria
    by claiming Mary took their side,
    but Cespedes, who was commanding
    the infant nation, understanding
    that it was not merely that groups
    claim God is with them, told his troops
    to march to Cobre. At the Sanctuary
    the hero got off from his horse
    went in and prayed, then told his force,
    "I here proclaim our faith in Mary,"
    at which each soldier knelt in place
    and said, "Hail Mary, full of grace!"
                    
                VIII
    The conflict then became intenser,
    but fate this time had gone with Spain.
    Cespedes died at San Lorenzo
    and when they saw their numbers wane
    the patriots thought about surrender
    and did, except for one defender
    of that great struggle: General
    Maceo, who would say, "I shall
    continue with the fight." He never
    though it would be so long till war
    broke out again. From near and far
    the cry of "Cuba free forever!"
    in eighteen-hundred-ninety-five
    would make the Cuban spirit thrive.
    
  
                 IX
    One time the foe had tried to banish
    Maceo in unequal fight.
    He was surrounded by the Spanish
    whose forces had the greater might,
    but disregarding the disparity
    he cried, "Let Our Lady of Charity
    of Cobre join us on this day!"
    and with this cry he led the way
    with enthusiasm prone to rattle
    the Spanish nerves. The fight was rough,
    but though the enemy was tough
    the Cuban patriots won the battle,
    and when it ended, then joined ranks
    to offer their protectress thanks.
                   
                   X
    The struggle took its toil in labor
    and blood and misery, but through
    assistance from a northern neighbor
    on twentieth May, nineteen-oh-two
    Cuba received its independence
    and with this day came the ascendance
    of Mary's most devoted fans
    within the family of man.
    But some remembered still the utterance
    Cespedes made, since he was dead
    as was Maceo, someone read
    a proclamation by the veterans
    in which they said they placed their hope
    in Mary, and sent it to the pope.
          
                   XI
    Benedict read the proclamation
    with tears, for he was deeply moved
    to find such faith in this new nation.
    He said the document had proved
    that when one struggles and is weary
    and losing ground, the help of Mary
    can bring the victory around.
    He called El Cobre sacred ground,
    and praising them for their selection
    of such a helper for their cause
    proclaimed, "By Him who knew the cross
    we trust your land to the protection
    of Mary in the form that she
    took when she came out of the sea."
       
                  XII
    The people had anticipated
    what the good pontiff would proclaim
    and images proliferated
    as each one reproduced the same
    statue of Mary as she protected
    the fishermen, who genuflected
    inside their now safeguarded boat.
    Some statues wore a sky-blue coat
    and others white. When darkness covered
    once more the island, one was brought
    to the U.S. by a priest who thought
    that while oppression's spirit hovered
    over his land, the Mother of God
    should join her devotees abroad.
     
                 XIII
    The priest had felt that by this medium
    he'd further the devotion's cause.
    There was a mass at Miami Stadium
    and the crowd broke into applause
    when it ... - when we -- were told that Mary
    had crossed the Straits. It was the very
    first time (the only time, in truth)
    that I had worn the Catholic Youth
    armband while acting as an usher
    at a public mass. The cries were loud
    and as I helped to hold the crowd
    who wished to kiss her and to touch her
    I felt as if, to my delight,
    I'd been anointed Mary's knight.
          
                 XIV
    The years have passed, three decades later
    when I go down Miami way
    I seek no beach or alligator
    before I drive to Biscayne Bay.
    There at a shrine I do my duty,
    for always there, in matchless beauty
    is Mary, glorious as can be,
    the way she came out of the sea.
    The reason that I tell the story
    is that a mighty hurricane          
    brought to Miami wind and rain
    but spared the shrine to Mary's glory.
    There Mary still assumes the form
    she took and takes to calm the storm.    
                
Copyright 1989, 1993 Pedro J. Saavedra
   
 
              Pedro J. Saavedra       bq847@yfn.ysu.edu
              psaavedr@capaccess.org  bo859@freenet.carleton.ca
              psaavedr@hotmail.com    saavedra@macroint.com
                  P.O. Box 236, Garrett Park, MD 20896

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Mary, please drop me a line and I will put you on her mailing list...

God bless you
John...:)
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