Saint Gertrude

The patroness of those beset by mice
and rats, she stands before red tapestry.
Blue floor tiles feature her preferred device:
crude mousetraps, set to spring. Her sanctity

is symbolized in halo, shepherd’s crook,
the habit of an Augustinian nun,
and downcast eyes, to read her open book.
Still, mice will play. Her work is never done:

to challenge pestilence and sin, and pray,
as others feed the oxen, gather sheaves.
—A demon thief, below, has seized the day,
among motifs of arbuscules and leaves.

—Catharine Savage Brosman