<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><h1 style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: 0.5in; page-break-after: avoid; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 28px;" class=""><span style="line-height: 26px; font-weight: normal;" class=""><font size="4" class="">Ermeo di San Francesco<o:p class=""></o:p></font></span></h1><h1 style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: 0.5in; page-break-after: avoid; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 28px;" class=""><span style="line-height: 22px; font-weight: normal;" class=""><font size="4" class=""> At the Hermitage of St. Francis in Assisi<o:p class=""></o:p></font></span></h1><div style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 24px;" class=""><span style="line-height: 18px;" class=""> </span></div><div style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 1.5in 0.0001pt 1in; line-height: 24px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">If he were to speak to me today, he would smile <br class=""></div><div style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 1.5in 0.0001pt 1in; line-height: 24px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">slightly, laughing at my concerns about this, about <br class=""></div><div style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 1.5in 0.0001pt 1in; line-height: 24px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">that. He would extend his hand, opened palm, <br class=""></div><div style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 1.5in 0.0001pt 1in; line-height: 24px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">inviting me to sit down, to find my spot exactly <br class=""></div><div style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 1.5in 0.0001pt 1in; line-height: 24px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">where I am. If today he were to speak to me, he <br class=""></div><div style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 1.5in 0.0001pt 1in; line-height: 24px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">would open his arms to the comforts of life right <br class=""></div><div style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 1.5in 0.0001pt 1in; line-height: 24px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">here, on this ground where I stand, the sun baking <br class=""></div><div style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 1.5in 0.0001pt 1in; line-height: 24px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">my back, the cool rock supporting me. Without <br class=""></div><div style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 1.5in 0.0001pt 1in; line-height: 24px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">words, he would tell me, wherever I am I can lay <br class=""></div><div style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 1.5in 0.0001pt 1in; line-height: 24px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">my head, wherever I walk is the place to be. He <br class=""></div><div style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 1.5in 0.0001pt 1in; line-height: 24px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">would point to the sky, the trees, the ground below <br class=""></div><div style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 1.5in 0.0001pt 1in; line-height: 24px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">my feet, cup his ear to the birds, the breeze, the <br class=""></div><div style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 1.5in 0.0001pt 1in; line-height: 24px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">words that need not be spoken.</div><div style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 1.5in 0.0001pt 1in; line-height: 24px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 1.5in 0.0001pt 1in; line-height: 24px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Clara Rosemarda</div></body></html>