Qui Tollis Peccata Mundi
Conrad Hilberry
Ordinarily, the rocks pitch down
when they break loose from the chimneys
up on the cliff-pitch down,
smash whatever they come to,
and hiss on into the sea. But this huge
boulder, peccatum mundi, rolled slowly,
bouncing on the talus then lumbering into
the forest. We heard it coming. It flattened
pines, lurched through the riverbed
then down here into the heat, shouldered
palms and banana trees like some elephant
with a long memory. It settled on our house,
pushed in the roof. We couldn't stand up.
Had to crawl in, sleep with that boulder
on our chests. We knew it was somebody's
fault. The children grew up under it,
thought houses must be like that. Then
somehow You did it. Lifted it. Took
it away. Christus. Dominus. We stood again,
breathed, looked out at the sea-swells
carrying blessings our way, bowing
toward us, offering at our feet the rich
foam. Tollis is the word, all right.
Restless under the rock, we heard
the air wince as though a bell swung
high overhead, paused with its mouth
wide open, upward, then fell and struck.
It tolled and tolled, its pitch almost
too high for us to hear, or too low,
but we could feel it wrench our flesh—
and, in the rock, crevices opened. Bong.
Bong. And the rock split, crumbled,
fell away. A monkey lifted
a white bromeliad from a branch
and sucked the sweet fruit at its heart.
A parrot shouted. We raised the children
above our heads and danced.
We have restored the roof of our house
and we fish again in the open sea.
Morning fog congeals and runs like mercy
down our arms. Occasionally, clearing
a few yards for squash or beans, we curse
the hacked tangle of roots, the black flies,
curse the heat and our lives, curse
the rutting peccaries that raid our plot.
Only occasionally they come, the peccaries
with their black hair and white lips—
the smoky pork taste of their flesh.
Tables of Content
Seventeen (Fall 2003)
Sixteen (Spring 2003)
Fifteen (Fall 2002) Fourteen (Spring 2002)
Thirteen
(Fall 2001) Twelve (Spring 2001)
Eleven (Fall 2000)
Ten (Spring 2000)
Nine (Fall 1999) Eight (Spring 1999)
Seven, (Fall 1998) Six, (Spring 1998)
Five (Fall 1997) Four (Winter/Spring 1997)