1894 Winona
Soon as I was born, I lost my desperate fight for life.
Then Father Cieszynski, livid with my father Frank Masyga
For what he saw as Father's insubordination,
Announced there would be no funeral for me,
Nor burial in the sacred ground of Saint Mary's Cemetery.
As though I had never been begotten, or birthed,
Or fought for my life as best I could
In the eyes of the one holy and apostolic Church.
But I will say this: not that long afterward
(Far as a deceased infant's shade can tell time)
The good Father himself came to me in tears
(Far as a deceased priest's shade can weep)
Begging, no excuses offered, that I forgive him.
As it turned out, he did me no harm at all.
So I forgave him willingly,
Sensing life hurt him far more than it had hurt me.
