Windows weep in witness as on
The clerestory glass over our prayers today
A thousand-thousand drops cascade
To spill over like mothers’ tears for all the lost.  

Charles calls from Laguna Church to lament
How the monsoon rains have seeped past
Ceiling vigas where painted stories
Celebrate creation, merging myths.  

Now their rainbow weeps for creation
Spoiled. Co-chin will starve where
Arroyos surge as Shakok and Miochin
Contend amidst the flood.  

Drought-bound land drinks deep
The female rain and prays the weeping
Yet may yield healed ground
For people whose dreams dried  

As pledges died. We still raise eyes
To where agave americana
Spends all to pulse yellow
Stamen-spouses for posterity.


In Laguna mythology, Shakok is the spirit of winter and Miochin, of summer.  Co-chin is the wife of Shakok. Agave Americana is the century plant.