The Pilgrim Road 4 Poem by David McLansky

The Sign of Sin (4)

And so the Nun who climbed the wall
Beguiled by love, forgetting all,
Returned a beggar to their door
Seeking food and succor;
She moved the very sign of sin,
Deflowered lust a-bloom within,
A swollen belly she could not hide,
She crept in shadows shorn of pride;
She who knelt at evening prayers
Who glided softly on the stairs,
Who crossed the yard, the pride of all,
Became the Eve in Adam's Fall;
She the Virgin Bride of Christ,
The Pure of Heart, the Sacrifice,
Became the object, the very form,
Of dreaded Evil to be scorned;
Once she moved with head downcast,
A pious girl, blessed when passed,
Now became a creature cursed,
The lesson of the very worst;
She who once was isolated
Traveled wide and was berated;
She was the mule sent to town,
The object of a hundred frowns;
There to run the Convents errands,
Mocked by boys and sky borne herons.