Waiting for Miguel

For the Trinitarian Sisters of San Ildefonso, Madrid,

who ransomed Cervantes from slavery in 1560.

I will wait another day, listening

As whispered sibilants ricochet

Off marble walls where barefoot sisters pray

Before golden altars glistening.

I will wait another day, remembering

You gave him liberty from chains, and Spain’s

transcendent imagining rose ordained

Through incense-wreathed Mozarabic chanting.

The world laughed, imprisonment and bruising

Made him think the world was quite insane

When he could see what truly lay beneath

Sanity’s insanities and nameless shames.

Yes, I will wait another day to kneel

Before his tomb and salute his noble name.

The author outside the convent of San Ildefonso, Madrid, the home of the Trinitarian Sisters, and site of Cervantes tomb.