The Nun's Tale

 

We watched the slight frame

of Sister Anne Cecilia

slip into the confessional

                        and wondered

 

what acts of sin

she carried in that hymnal

of beautiful bones?

 

Certainly not

lust or gluttony.

 

And how many Hail

Marys and Our Fathers

would the priest tell her say?

 

                       In English or Latin?

 

While on her knees (scrubbing)

the chapel's stone stairs

 

or searching for a pearl

earring?

               One smaller than the pearl

               worn by the girl posing

ethereal
in the masterful hands of Vermeer.