Margret's Smile Poem by Jacob Bearer

Margret's rearview mirror rosary swayed,
as her wrinkled car filed into the lot,
falling in step to the airy chant
of those black crows atop the belfry.

She parked her ruddy Cadillac,
(third spot, left of the center lane)
and sat with the snow fall,
while the bells chimed, and chimed,
and echoed off the abandoned cars.

A smile sprouted above her chins,
like a crooked tulip in winter
creasing a new line in the old snow.
And she abandoned her old car.

After Mass Father O'Hullihan walked out
to the rose of a car in the empty garden,
and sweeping the snow from the windshield,
Margret smiled at someone, for the first time.