Jesus Caritas

Then trucks arrive, stakes are driven, wood and rust split the dewdrops,

like the firmament of old.

Did you see their eyes when the elephants came lumbering

forth upon the field, and camels and horses,

and how the workers called them each by name—Minnie and Susie,

Barbara and Margaret, Gismo, Tchaikovsky and Brahms,

Katie the miniature hippopotamus and Goliath the water buffalo?

Did you feel their awe when man and beast worked together

pushing up the tent poles?

It took me 7 days of billions of years to create,

and here one can experience it, fresh and alive, in a few hours!

Do you realize how I made the circus to speak of my creative work?

Why do you think so many tents are decorated with stars?

Do you realize that the tent is not only firmament

but tabernacle, church, tent of worship

wherein takes place the Liturgy of the People?

I have made it so, years ago, when I designed it

in the hearts of your forefathers and mothers.