Joe Dolce: A poem
for the plague

Saint Corona

Latin for Crown.
Patron saint of plagues.
Testified for a Roman soldier,
named Victor, a Christian,
whipped by the Christian-hating judge, Sebastian,
during the reign of Marcus Aurelius,
eyes gouged out, yet
refused to deny Christ.
Corona, sixteen,
wife of a soldier,
knelt and prayed for Victor.
Imprisoned, tortured,
drawn and quartered,
in 177 A.D, Syria.
Pre-congregation saint,
her feast day, May 14th.
St Corona’s bones were exhumed,
in 1943, and found to be
both male and female.

— Joe Dolce