Stephen James Penner is a pastor at First Mennonite Church in Reedley, California.  He likes soccer a lot, as well as the Pittsburgh Pirates. Stephen writes, “One person of interest for me has long been Mary.” 

Later when he was gone
artists trying to capture the moment
imagined blue skies and clouds like sails billowing in an Atlantic breeze,
he levitating with arms spread wide.

But she preferred the memory
of his attending her breast and the moist warmth she knew.
When their eyes met his brown ones said I’ve got a life to live.
Always determined, kind of stubborn,
she told her friends.
But still, a good boy.

She remembered it all, the way it once was,
even as the visits grew infrequent
and the dangers became real.
When he did find the time
to share a meal, just with her,
she had to ask
those things you said, leaving your mother behind?
Your father?
He chose silence as an answer
but before he left he invited her embrace.
It was so much like before, long and silent,
only now the tears were his.

Written December 25, 2015