Dear Fra Sebastiano
in your cold cell
on a holy mountain
talk to us about isolation

We are being forever compelled
to separate
keep our distance
touch has become forbidden

Is the answer prayer
meditation knees on the floor
how can we the common folk
without your long acquired discipline
manage to stay apart

Your touch of the universe
maybe divine
ours is on the burnt ground
we reach out still
to find the calm of your mind

Perhaps we should climb
a holy mountain nearby
there’s one that suits
that particular purpose

From those heights
we might just see
a world of nature
as it was meant to be
Universal never ending!