The CNMI has designated May as \u201cOlder Americans Month.\u201d My father used to say, \u201cShe was a saint\u201d to honor his mother, mother-in-law, and older male and female family members and friends who had passed on. Here is a quartet of sonnets on past, present, future and wannabe saints:<\/p>\n
Some Old Saints<\/strong><\/p>\n There have been many, we can never know them all Some Future Saints<\/strong><\/p>\n Astronomers and DNA researchers will try and find them Some Now Saints<\/strong><\/p>\n They are sanctified sometimes by the slightest mishap Saints: Some Honeybees and Some Wannabes<\/strong><\/p>\n most mothers are saints, grandmas, aunties, and sisters The CNMI has designated May as \u201cOlder Americans Month.\u201d My father used to say, \u201cShe…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[668,3602,16666,16667],"class_list":["post-251642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion","tag-baby","tag-dna","tag-gaza-strip","tag-kuan-yin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251642\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nIn burial mounds and cities, some below sea level
\nAt peace, some were fighting when they met their fall
\nDefending their families, their country, fighting the devil,
\nNow they ossify in many the ancient reliquary
\nSupine in a wooden or lead box they lay low,
\nOr standing in a temple or church as statuary
\nAround their heads some religions place a halo
\nFarmers, fishers, cities regard many as a patron
\nForming part of a Godhead to whom followers pray
\nGoddesses of mercy, Kuan Yin, Virgin Mary their matron
\nAnimals, boats, crops get blessed on their patron saint\u2019s day
\nSt. Peter was crucified on a cross shaped like an \u2018X\u2019
\nSt. Joan of Arc was burned at the stake over politics and sex<\/p>\n
\nSocial network sites won\u2019t carry all their numerous views
\nOn either side of the Gaza Strip or in Bethlehem
\nThey may be an app or a small slot on the evening news
\nFuture saints will be seen every night on some cyber stage
\nBiographic blogs and tattle tale tweets will tell their holy story
\nRobotic and partially cloned saints will be all the rage
\nRead their DNA strands in three dimensional glory
\nSome will distract us with names: monk, guru, or priest
\nBig trouble makers may even try to become the Pope
\nYet continue to wallow in the belly of the beast
\nWandering through Dante\u2019s Inferno without any hope
\nThere are future saints among our own sisters and brothers
\nIf they died having loved and respected their own mothers<\/p>\n
\nOver a period of time their legend takes shape
\nMurdered by terrorists, taken en masse by kidnap
\nBrutalized on buses and in fields with gang rape
\nSuperstitious astrologists say born under a bad sign
\nProphecies ignored by sanctimonious church goers
\nBrought closer to heaven with beer, whiskey or wine
\nSaved for a productive life by vaccine growers
\nGassed and jailed for anti war and civil rights protests
\nNeglected and ignored by some, they were all kind
\nFearful of criminal perpetrators released without arrest
\nVaguely remembered when their good deeds come to mind
\nMany modern saints you won\u2019t recognize when you meet
\nThey may be your friends or neighbors across the street<\/p>\n
\nand second cousins are sweet sainted honeybees
\nbustling in kitchens with flour, butter, and eggs
\nbaking bread, cakes, and pies for nascent wannabes
\nthere are wannabe saints who promised the world to some girl
\nthen left before she delivered the baby or in the next few years
\nthe baby still in diapers they played lover boy and churl
\ntheir trip to sainthood left in the lurch they shifted genital gears
\nsaintly worker bees continue their love making money\/honey
\nproving daily their potential in providing for the queen
\nin the hive are the drones for whom daily work is not funny
\ntheir wings fanning the way to sainthood somewhere in between
\nwannabes go from being stamen with pistil flower to flour
\nwhile honeybee saints drip honeycomb hour by sticky hour<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"