20

 
The quiet moss-green image of Sassetta.
Aquinas (black hole) kneels before the altar.
Background of cloister-garden, library...
forsaken stage-set now (only a metaphor).

 
Aquinas tempered Aristotle, Augustine.
Sassetta memorized antique (pre-plague)
Siena.  Emblem of a dream, vague
microcosm (innocent, pristine).

 
A tiny dove aligned with Jesus-crucified
transfixes him (his body like a train
or veil of thought, beneath brain
impaled by hummingbird).

                           
                *

 
Hobo rambles through America, surrenders
passport, loses wallet, sheds identity.
Ends up in hospital in San José,
mopping with crayon.  Sees

 
vision of Madonna (open-handed,
mesmerized).  Nature is feminine
and Wisdom in the streets, O Solomon;
the dove (ungraspable) is Understanding.