At The Convent 1980 Poem by Terry Collett

Susan finds
the convent
just outside
the city
of Paris.

She pulls on
a bell rope
and a nun
dressed in white
opens up
a small grid
and peers out.

Are you our
girl Susan?
The nun asks
in her French.

Yes, I am,
Susan says.

The nun's key
unlocks the
black gate
and Susan
enters in
and the nun
locks the gate.

Goodbye, Jude,
she says in
her tired mind,
following
the old nun.

She ought to
have told him,
not left him
at the train
station like
she had and
not told him
about her
becoming
a nun in
a convent.

He had asked
her if she
would marry him
and she had
not said no,
but left him
thinking she
might in time.

He had waved
her off not
knowing she
was going
off from him
forever.

She follows
the old nun
down cloisters
white and sparse
and chilly.

She passes
a statue
with flowers
and tickets
with requests
for prayers.

She wonders
about Jude,
and what he
is doing,
what he thinks.

A bell tolls.

There is a
square of sky
visible
above her.

A bird sings.

Another bell
from somewhere
gently rings.