Hagiography

Would we know a saint
if we saw one?

Mother Theresa
in the bowels of Calcutta
tired, gray, dressed in rags
doubting her faith;
would we know?

Francis
on Mount Verna
in the midst of a
forty day fast;
would we know?

John in the desert,
stinking hair shirt
with locust breath
and crazy eye;
would we clutch
our wallets
and hurry away?

They will be found
in jungle huts
desert wastes
and decimated villages
and have very little to do
with graceful spires
bejeweled halls
or comfortable privilege.