Return to Readings index.

Simone Weil in Assissi
Edward Hirsch

She disliked the miracles in the gospels.
She never believed in the mystery of contact
here below, between a human being and God
she despised popular tales of apparitions.

But that afternoon in Assissi she wandered
Through the abominable Santa Maria degli Angeli
And happened upon a little marvel of Romanesque
Purity where St Francis liked to pray.

She was there a short time when something absolute
and omnivorous, something she neither believed
nor disbelieved, something she understood – but what
was it?  -- forced her to her knees.

Return to Readings index.