Angeles, Jefferson County

By Peter A. Huff

I see you, Lady,

in American apparition,

epiphany of the heartland

against a blossoming sky.

My Lady of Bardstown Road,

you are clothed in a tobacco cloud,

crowned among the dogwoods.

How beautiful are they who preach

the gospel in painted feet!

You are friend of the poor,

flowers of paper in water.

They bloom in the light of your hazel gaze.

They love you in beer joints.

Look at me too, Lady,

in smiling apocalypse.

Give me a decade to pray in braided clover.

Instruct me in your joyful mysteries.