Kissing The Virgin’s Mouth (Donna Gershten)

I have begun to teach Isabel the important things.
Just as I taught my Hija. Feel gratitude.
That’s what I told my little five-year-old
cousin yesterday when she found a coin in the grass.

Wrapped her fat fingers around a peso, eyes bright.
Say thank you, I tell her, like this:
I kneeled beside her, pretending the peso was inside
my tight fist and I closed my eyes and filled my heart
and kissed my fist long and firm like a mother who
finds her lost child, like a father saying good-bye.
She did it too.

Thank who? That’s not important.

Some people think I am religious.

I am not.

I believe in gratitude.