“Santa Lucia” by Phebe Hanson
Created by pennefesm on 10 Dec 2009 | Tagged as: Uncategorized
December, 1938
and my grandparents
give their yearly party
at the church where
my grandfather is janitor.
Everyone comes to honor
Lucia, strange saint
for Swedes, virgin & martyr
of Syracuse, whose fiancé
denounced her
when she became a Christian
ordered boiling oil
and burning pitch
poured over her
stubborn head,
but on this night
I am 10,
know nothing
of that other Lucia,
know only I
get to put on the long white choir robe
tied with red satin sash,
get to wear the crown of candles
that remind everyone
of the light she brought
when she appeared
to Swedish peasants
during a famine.
I am afraid
as Grandma lights
the candles
in the crown on my head,
that the flames
will catch my hair on fire,
but I walk in slowly
head held straight,
carrying a tray of lussekatter
and deliver pieces of the bread
to all the Swedes
gathered in Gloria Dei Lutheran Church
that long-ago December night
just before the world
burst into flames.