Sister Edna's Face

as her rosary slipped from her fingers and her eyelids forever closed it opened a saga of life unloved lived hidden in her plain bed table I found a small leather notebook cradling a hundred raging romance poems she'd penned over the decades I'd known her about a life she denied for her eighty six years but was precious enough for her secret self the lover she longed to be married to Jesus was her outside face in darkness she held womanly desires yet remained true to her vows vows that hid deepest passions I remember in days long past looking into her angelic alluring face wondering who the woman was underneath never knowing of course hoping she knew more about living than me now I fear I know what those looks meant I've read the words the heat of seduction maybe it was me she loved Illustration G. Gaul