Were I a friar of Convento San Marco In Florence of the Quattrocento
With Fra Angelico and students Working on some fifty frescos And every tiny cell a shrine
I would ask for myself
“An Annunciation or Nativity please!” An image luminous enough to brighten The darkness of the pre-dawn call From grand silence to matins
Greeting me from the foot of my cot The serene figures the muted colors Catching the early eastern glow Would make every morning Christmas
John P. McNamee
December 24, 2012 First appeared in America Magazine
