Poetry Friday

St. Joseph and the Child

Hello Poets,

Thank you, Patricia, at Reverie, for hosting this week’s round-up.

This painting, São José e o Menino, popped up on wikiart.org, in my regular perusal of art, and I was intrigued with the painter as much as the painting.

Josepha was born in Spain in 1630. I’ve not seen (m)any female artists who painted at this time in history. The wikiart.org site gives her bio. What impressed me is that Josepha was emancipated by her parents (likely for) a mystical marriage and convent life — where she painted. Huh! A mystic and fine painter? Moreover, this nun had a will when she died in 1684, another unusual item, to my mind, in those times.

Of course, St. Joseph, or São José, is the patron saint of all Joseph’s and Josepha’s. I imagine Josepha, the painter, having prepped her canvas, in thought as she prepared to begin this piece.

As Josepha Paints her Patron Saint with the Child   

Josepha studies her sketch,  
chalked outlines of her next work  
on the stretched canvas before her.  

Things may change,   
she knows that.  
She ponders angles   
of  São José, showing how he must have learned   
from his own child, as parents do—  
               when to question,  
and to trust.  

Josepha heard that her patron saint  
became Christ’s first convert.   
How did that work?
Did young Jesus talk and talk  
and talk along the road  
to the carpenter’s shop?  
At night, did he ever tire   
his father with wonders?  

Maybe young Joseph   
thought about toughening up  
this sensitive, perfect boy.
Maybe he bought soft scarlet wool for the child’s robe  
while he wore cheaper homespun.

Josepha weighs her thoughts  
against story lines she will lay down   
with brushes and tinted paints.  

There should be glory in the clouds,  
character in the mantle covering the father   
and, brilliance in the child.  

Holy Spirit, she prays  
let me paint for others who will look   
to their patron saint, Joseph  
with the reverence I do today.  

Linda Mitchell 5/15