Mass for the Patron Saint of Poultry
by Elizabeth McCarthy
Kindness came to our country road.
One morning we passed a sign above a yellow plastic crate,
“Free eggs Sundays at 11:30 am”
as if the church announced Mass for the Patron Saint of Poultry.
We returned on Sunday morning for fresh offerings
lovely speckled brown, sky blue, pinkish cream eggs,
and gently carried them home.
Down the road, another sign, “Free squash”
summer’s yellow goose-neck gourds, cabbage,
green zucchini laid upon a saw-horse table.
As if a produce shelf had wandered off
from the confusing aisles of Whole Foods Market
wanting to be free from its sterile space
and move to the country.
All summer, edible gifts appeared alongside our dirt road,
the Sunday eggs and the farmer’s bounty!
A cornucopia of kindness in this world hungry for grace.
[Elizabeth McCarthy lives in Walden.]
