Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
Walter J. OngOctober 14, 1939

Where earth goes to water.
The dark young birches cow—
Yet brown and dapple, daughter.
No silver now.

Down, down the white trees, felted
Now fast into the strand.
And the sun's green leaf-gold, melted.
Becomes thin sand.

Look! One sapling thrusts its arm, now paling fawn.
Out of the coal bed, Tekakwitha, into the new blue dawn.

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.
Paul Feeley
11 years 6 months ago
Horrible picture.
Mary Ziegenhagen
11 years 6 months ago
My affection for this saint rests almost entirely on my experience with a Franciscan Sister who chose the name.  Sister Kateri m OSF, was a nurse at St. Francis Hospital in Breckenridge, Minnesota during the 1950s.  She set an fine example for young women studying in that hospital's schools of nursing, medical records and x-ray technology.  We valued her instruction, friendship, kindness, and lively sense of humor.  I still think she was a saint and so now am glad the "lily of the Mohawks" is making her way through Vatican corridors of judgment and recognition of her holiness.
MICHAEL BARRETT MR
11 years 5 months ago
This poem reads like one of Gerard Manley Hopkins'!

The latest from america

“His presence brings prestige to our nation and to the entire Group of 7. It is the first time that a pope will participate in the work of the G7,” Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said.
Gerard O’ConnellApril 26, 2024
“Many conflicting, divergent and often contradictory views of the human person have found wide acceptance … they have led to holders of traditional theories being cancelled or even losing their jobs,” the bishops said.
Robots can give you facts. But they can’t give you faith.
Delaney CoyneApril 26, 2024
Sophie Nélisse as Irene Gut Opdyke, left, stars in a scene from the movie “Irena's Vow.” (OSV news photo/Quiver)
“Irena’s Vow” is true story of a Catholic nurse who used her position to shelter a dozen Jews in World War II-era Poland.
Ryan Di CorpoApril 26, 2024