Poetry
Cavadini, John
But even then it didn't occur to me to try to cover "my" pilgrimage in Kultura. The very first pilgrimage from Warsaw to Czestochowa was led by the Paulines in 1711. Ours set out on its way...
...Perhaps the Communist mayor of Czestochowa hit upon something when he said, half-disdainfully, half-enviously: "They march like stormtroopers and they sing erotica...
...We are organized into groups, each of which is led by someone carrying the Cross on a long pole, followed by pilgrims carrying loudspeakers and microphones...
...The ground, ripened, dried, and Milled into a satisfying Dust, seems nourishing, A solemn sacrament Indifferently dispensed Now to wasps milling over Spoiled grapes, Now to the ermine Goldenrod standing at the gate, And now to the strict ascetic Phlox, emaciated, like the Perfect Saints who saw the Hesychastic light, and waited for Its last, sustaining touch...
...Ours set out on its way exactly 269 years later...
...We are encouraged to take a good supply of thick socks, boots, and Band-Aids...
...Love is the theme in all these songs, hauntingly, incessantly, obsessively...
...single-use plastic raincoats, normally available at 40 zlotys, are selling for 140...
...Someone pulls out a hose from a nearby yard, sprinkles heat-exhausted pilgrims with cool water...
...Every time a stop is announced, people drop to the ground, many out of breath...
...We are on our way again...
...So is the breathtaking bravura of spiritual optimism and sheer joy in God, so new to this part of the world: "...I've got a palace, far over the mountain, in the land where love never dies...
...The extremes of human nature become immediately visible: some of us, the wimps, curl up under our blankets and look frightened in the face of all this wilderness...
...Beyond that, bring your own food and beverages...
...he Italians and Germans dominate among the foreign pilgrims...
...After paying the 200 zloty participation fee, we were issued badges identifying us as participants in "The 269th Warsaw Walking Pilgrimage to Jasna Gora...
...Signed: Brother Guide...
...A pilgrimage is not a cross-country hike...
...How many of us are walking...
...People pour out onto the street from homes, buildings, stores...
...Crowds on the sidewalks thicken as we move across town, there's more cheering and arm-waving...
...Madonna nera/" The crowd breaks into a song to the tune of an old Negro spiritual: "Full of Power, Grace, and Glory...
...460: Commonweal...
...Someone brings buckets of cold fruit compote...
...The Italians pitch in: "Pleni diforza, di grazia, di gloria"----their singing, naturally, much more melodious than ours...
...Ice cream...
...Our Italians jump out of the column, hug the bystanders, call joyously, "Madonna nera...
...Months before, there were lines at registration desks in St...
...I remember vividly that spontaneous demonstration on the streets of Warsaw as I rode in a horse-pulled cab with my father, already in uniform, on his way to war...
...Our first "sleeping quarters" is a farmyard sparely covered with hay...
...We are entitled to two mugs of black coffee a day and a bowl of soup every other day...
...No "sirs" or "madams...
...And finally: Let's try to forget about ourselves and try to serve others, especially those we don't know or like...
...We don't know for sure, but certainly not less than 100,000...
...we address each other as "brother" and "sister," or by first names...
...Or: "Like a river, God's love flows through my soul...
...Fresh vanilla ice cream...
...No mixed tents or other sleeping quarters...
...Crowds of Poles shout, "Long live France...
...Some locals are doing a brisk business...
...Our Cross enters the church momentarily, the rest of us sit on warm asphalt...
...A pretty young nun bites noisily into an apple, chews on it with relish, and then intones in a steely voice: "Queen of Poland, clear the way for us...
...As we stop at the church, crowds gather in the street, waving, applauding, singing...
...But when we approach a town en route and the bells of the local church begin to peal to greet us, our backs straighten up and our voices gain in strength as we march, singing, with our flags, our sick and handicapped, our knapsacks, and our children (the youngest pilgrim is four months old...
...The people of Warsaw cried the same words on September 3, 1939...
...The formula, the vitality of this street worship is borrowed from American black culture...
...We also received a pilgrim's guidebook: No alcohol, no smoking, no shorts, no rolled-up sleeves, no campfires...
...Below, someone added: "Atheists included...
...Ann's Church adorned with a banner proclaiming: "Poland's Students March to Czestochowa...
...Next morning, en route, we have a conference on the causes John Cavadini I n August on A t l a n t i c S t r e e t In August on Atlantic Street The houses bob like boats Moored out in the sun And cicadas singing cast Their sound in skeins Across the ponds of air to Trees the other side...
...The sun has moved to the other horizon...
...Others, the John Waynes, are all over the place comforting the fearful and producing--miraculouslyISUCh luxuries as hot water, coffee, even cherry soup with dumplings...
...The first row of the French group wears the word "France" on the front of their shirts...
...A continuous confession is taking place at the rear of each group, heard by priests wearing cassocks and stoles, often carrying plastic bags with a tomato, an apple, a thermos bottle...
...our average daily distance is 30 kilometers or 245 km in almost nine days...
...Or: "I'm gonna be there when the Lord is back...
Vol. 118 • August 1991 • No. 14
