Sorrowful Mother

South to Bucyrus he saw a sign
One-half mile – Sorrowful Mother Shrine.
He did not stop, preferring to imagine what
His Sorrowful Mother Shrine might be.
 
Whose mother knows not sorrow
Of disappointment and lives undone?
Of nights awake, waiting alone
Beside an uncaring, unringing phone?
 
A lone stalk of corn standing tall, unbended
Is his Sorrowful Mother Shrine imagined.
Passing field after field, uncountable stalks
Surround graves at Evangelical Pietist Church.
 
Without sorrow can joy be as full?
Will Mother stand as tall and unbending?
He imagines so – then stops along the road to eat
Where the corn is ripe and the melon sweet.