Tuesday, March 26, 2024

SIMPLY, CATHERINE

by Suzanne Morris




...is how I chose,
in the end,

to remember her name
on the prayer list

to be read aloud
in Sunday worship.

Not Catherine,
Princess of Wales

or Kate, as she is
familiarly known,

but rather, simply, Catherine.

Not because I
wanted to avoid

raising the ire of anyone
who disapproves of

the British monarchy’s
continued existence, or

starting a dialogue
in hushed tones

about how shabbily the Royals
had treated poor Meghan.

Not to put aside the question of
whether or not

anyone outside
the royal family

and the healthcare professionals
ministering to her

has a right to know
the precise location of

the 42-year-old woman’s
disease

or the degree of
its advance.

No, in the end, I wrote down
simply, Catherine

because I believe

the frail-looking woman,
wife, and mother of three,

sitting alone on a bench
in a striped sweater

that appeared a little
too large on her frame

marshaling all her energy to
assuage the world’s

insatiable desire for
information

will always be,
in the sight of God,

simply, Catherine.


Suzanne Morris is a novelist with eight published works, and a poet.  Her poems have appeared in several anthologies, and in online poetry journals including The New Verse News, The Texas Poetry Assignment, and Stone Poetry Quarterly.  She resides in Cherokee County, Texas.