June

Smells and bells and candle light
There was peace and there was quiet
Every Sunday she and her parents went to the church when she was a child

There was Jesus at the cross looking down to her with his mild eyes
A statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary with her child
The stained-glass windows of the church with their pictures and the play of light

She loved the chorals and the sound of the organ
She loved the word of God and she loved the sermons
She loved the collective prayers that the priest and the fold together murmurs

She loved the bible and every word inside
She loved the stories about Jesus and about his life
The walls of the church promised her safety when she was a child

God was leading her, God gave her force,
God will save her soul
The Word of God and the prayers gave her solace
The religion gave her confidence
The religion became her home

After school she went for a postulate
She joined the convent and passed the novitiate
She took the solemn promise, became a nun and was called Sister Kate

A life of humbleness and praying to God
A life of working and praising the Lord
The meditations and the routine of the day gave her aplomb

She sealed herself off from the world outside
No TV, no news, instead of that prayers and candlelight
The walls of the convent gave her safety, they were her life

God was leading her, God gave her force,
God will save her soul
The Word of God and the prayers gave her solace
The religion gave her confidence
The religion was her home

Then one day her mother died
She went to the funeral, into the world outside
After forty years she left the shelter of the convent for the first time

Faced with a world of noise and hectic rush
Faced with a world of brutality and wars
Nothing seemed to match to the idyllic world in which she had holed up

There were reports about crimes in the name of God
Cover-up and lying in view of the Lord
Worst the reports of the children abused by priests and bishops

Smells and bells and candlelight
But there’s no peace, there’s no quiet
She’s trying to pray but all that she feels are doubts and a dark emptiness inside

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