I saw her in Gneevguillia, County Kerry, on a Sunday at Mass

Standing at the rail, reaching as if there were no perhaps.

She came to mind when you asked if there is any reality

In religion, and I have painted her for you, so that her bodily

Presence may be with you, in your struggle with the enemies

Of life. My canvas is almost life- size so that it can tell this

Story with conviction.The main figure is on the left side

With low down a block of grey as in dust, tilted to the right,

The application of the paint miming an upward thrust. Above,

Tilted to the left a block of brown as of arms or legs that you’d love

A shirt in, flagrant. On top, poised centrally, a small purple

Oval with a nose facing right, sharply. You might guess purpose

If this was a person. In the centre, to the right of this figure, level

With the brown block, are five large purple tubes laid parallel

To each other horizontally with a definite impetus as if stretching

Rightward to demand a reward, which at first seems wretchedly

Absent, but when you look closely you see it is conventional

And trite, a tiny communion wafer tinged with wine, not mystical

Nor philosophic, but drawn from a specific history, simply saying,

“Jesus God is here, now” That is her passion amid all the tatters

Of her time and place. And if it is true, nothing else matters.