My Weekly Prayers--By Edilson Afonso Ferreira--Brazil

My Weekly Prayers

Always on Tuesday, Saint Anthony’s day,

I attend Mass at Saint Anthony’s church, 

the littlest and farthermost of my town.  

Indeed, it is more like a chapel.

Few people go there, they pray mainly

at Saint Vincent’s, in the Central Square,

that looks as refulgent as a Cathedral.  

They are unaware that the church I go to

was built on the ground of old, or better,  

the oldest of our cemeteries.  

I know that great-grandparents’ bones

are in the foundation of Saint Anthony’s.

I strongly believe that  

my ancestors dispense their blessings

along with those of our Lord

and of the Saint of every Tuesday evening.

Edilson Afonso Ferreira is a Brazilian poet who writes in English rather than Portuguese, in order to reach more people. Has been published in online or printed venues like Cyclamens and Swords, Right Hand Pointing, Boston Poetry Magazine, The Lake, The Stare’s Nest, The Provo Canyon, Amomancies, Subterranean Blue, The Gambler, Whispers, Every Day Poems, Indiana Voice Journal and some others. Short listed in four American Poetry Contests, lives in a small town with wife, three sons and a granddaughter and began writing after retirement as a Bank Manager. He is collecting his works for a forthcoming book.