Nano, Part I
In a yellow house on Main Street,
in Whitegate, County Cork,
Nano helps her mother
to fill the shop window
with apple pies and turnovers
and cherry cobblers.
She grew up without her father,
so when it comes to men,
she has little to compare to,
and her thoughts
are her own.
As she makes pastries
and waits on customers,
Nano composes poems.
Nano, Part II
Nano attended a convent school,
where she learned to speak French
and play the piano.
Now, as she works,
Nano writes wistful and
reflective poems,
full of love of
nature, and love of
Ireland.
Still, she does not marry,
and when it comes to men,
her thoughts are her own.
Courtesy of Patricia Traxler
Nano, Part III
Her mother has now left
for America,
with a brother who is
ill and dying.
The shop sold,
Nano stays with her
married sister.
In that larger house,
in another Cork town,
she occasionally bakes
a pie, a turnover,
or a cobbler.
Still she does not marry,
and when it comes to men,
her thoughts are her own.
Nano, Part IV
In Guileen, Nano walks
by the water's edge,
where the tender will take her
to the ship.
She falls to talking with
a young man of her age.
With a gust of wind,
her picture hat takes wing.
He climbs over the low seawall
and retrieves it for her.
Somehow, while they talk
and while they walk
the paths of the cliff,
the afternoon passes.
He asks for her address,
and she gives it,
but she is leaving
for America
in the morning.
