Walking With My Mother Past Ursuline Convent and Orphanage (Camp Street)
she remembered
meals eaten in silence
agar jelly dessert, the bitterness of seaweed
washed down with milk
rounders with the girls –
the clack of the bat connecting with the ball
exhilaration running the bases
later in the dorm Sister Mary Alphonse
called an early silence
(to quell excitement ?)
daily chapel - once for mass, twice for prayers
standing, kneeling behind
the black wall of nuns
praying for love
and sardine sandwiches
her mother used to make
secrets with lovely Peggy
whose despair became unbearable -
surely God forgave her
longing for love, a husband, children
someone to need her
to start living
Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.