St. Francis of the Worms (after the Owens + Crawley “Sail” sculpture)

“Sail” by Owens + Crawley

Jogging along the Monon Trail in Carmel

St. Francis looks up and sees a squirrel 

on a rotted-out utility pole: he stops 

and captures the squirrel with his stare.

They hold each other’s gaze

for a minute before the squirrel 

heads back down the pole. Francis 

figures that engaging a squirrel

with its short attention span isn’t

the same thing as convincing people

to follow Jesus —  certainly not those

who blow past him as he huffs his way 

towards Midtown Carmel. Once 

Francis had the confidence of the birds 

in the skies overhead: they’d landed 

on his shoulder and counseled 

him to trek to Egypt to convert Saladin  

to Christianity. These days, though, 

he can’t keep his head empty of doubt. 

But on this day, as the sun breaks through, 

Francis sees a worm on the asphalt

in the wake of the morning rain. 

He picks it up and drops it

in the trailside grass. He picked up another, 

and another until there are no more 

worms to pick up. By that time he’s out 

of the woods, near the three-pronged 

“Sail” sculpture by Owens + Crawley. 

From the outside,  it looks like sails 

on a mast. Inside, its panels recall 

the stained glass in the Assisi  

Basilica. Gazing up at the sky 

from the interior, he no longer feels

as helpless as a worm. Stepping 

inside the sculpture is enough

to convert his perspective.