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Resurgam
“I Shall Rise Again”
Mission
San Juan Capistrano
Photo
© 2016 Jennifer Wagner
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At Ricardo’s
our
hostess tells us
the
swallows do return yearly
from
Argentina,
though
most nest at the hospital
now
it’s the highest building.
They don’t tell you that—over there,
she
quips, with a smirk and a nod
toward
Mission San Juan Capistrano
and
the ruins of The Great Stone Church.
Funny
she reveals it to us here,
sitting
in its shadow,
netting
foot traffic
from
history and legend.
But
I appreciate candor,
cool
and featherless—like me,
here
in the shadows, post-quake,
growing
less blind and
getting
ready to rise again.
©
2016 Jennifer Wagner
Note: In 1806 The Great Stone Church at Mission San
Juan Capistrano was completed. It was devastated by an earthquake in 1812. Migrating cliff swallows from Argentina
return yearly in March to use the exposed eaves of the ruins and surrounding
areas to nest until October.