Ode to the Rosary

Elizabeth N. Flores 

May 3, 2026

Elena could not understand 

why she was unable to fully 

commit to the Rosary. 

After Mama passed, 

the family continued 

her long-standing traditions

honoring the Rosary.

Thanksgiving lunch ended 

with pumpkin pie and the Rosary, 

the same on Christmas day, but with pecan pie, 

and also after Easter Sunday BBQ, but with

mixed fruit pie celebrating spring.

When Elena and her sisters made Christmas tamales, 

they took turns reciting the Mysteries of the Rosary, 

as Mama liked to say, “for extra flavor.”

For Día de los Muertos, 

a visit to the cemetery, with prayers and songs

at the graves of Pop, Elena’s husband Diego, 

and now Mama, ending with the Rosary,

“the grand finale” as Mama always called it. 

But to Elena, now that Mama was gone,

her personal commitment 

could only be met 

by following Mama’s example 

of saying the Rosary at the end of each day, 

tucked in bed, before going to sleep. 

Elena tried repeatedly, 

and while the Sign of the Cross, 

the Apostles’ Creed, 

the Our Father, 

three Hail Mary’s,

and the Glory Be

came easily and quickly,

she always fell fast asleep 

before the first Mystery. 

Then, she thought, the next best thing—

a weekly Rosary. She would break it up, 

including one Mystery a day, 

and by the end of the week, 

an entire Rosary, done.

Again, Elena didn’t get very far

before dozing off like clockwork.

It was no consolation 

that she woke up each morning 

clutching her Rosary.

What would Mama think? 

Wait…Mama also strongly believed 

that a good night’s sleep 

was its own blessing. Elenita, she would 

probably say, appreciate the few beads  

of the precious Rosary that helped you fall asleep. 

The Rosary brings comfort in different ways. 

From then on, when Elena sat in the solitude of her patio,

enjoying afternoon coffee and her favorite key lime pie, 

or making her grocery list and balancing her checkbook, 

she felt a lightness. 

Viewing the garden 

where she placed Mama’s 

Our Lady of Guadalupe statue 

and a Rosary around Our Lady’s shoulders,

Elena enjoyed the comfort of her commitment.

Elizabeth N. Flores, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, taught for over 40 years at Del Mar College and was the college’s first Mexican American Studies Program Coordinator. Her recent poems can be found in the TPA Quarterly, the Windward Review, the Texas Poetry Assignment, The Senior Class: 100 Poets on Aging, edited by Laurence Musgrove, and ¡Somos Tejanas!: Chicana Identity and Culture in Texas, edited by Jody A. Marín and Norma E. Cantú.