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.