Faith of the Flightless

Nuns on the floe
stout and silent, totter
over cold convent -
praying even as they slip
beneath the vow of
water’s sudden surface,
counting rosaries
awash with ice.

Fine, filtered sun
penetrates pearlescent
stained-glass opal shine;
within the underworld’s
endless deep cathedral,
fish are multiplied
by miracle unseen
to feed impossible flocks.

Believers blind in black and
white, sisters’ spirited
slippery skins aglow -
warmed in soul,
webbed in step astride a
winter unyielding;
faith unique, shared only
by the uniformed alike.