TEA IN THE GARTH 1971

A YOUTH IN AN ABBEY IN 1971 AND TEA IN THE GARTH

We gathered on the grass
of the garth
surrounded by

the cloister's low wall,
there was a trolley
with a tea urn

and cups and saucers
and sugar and milk
or a jug of French coffee,

the clock tower
chimed a quarter,
a monk sipped tea

and spoke in French to another,
I sipped tea
and Dom Kenneth

passed me some cake
on a plate,
you can kiss me

wherever you like
she said and so I did,
birds sang from

the tree in the garth,
I ate cake watching
the French peasant monk

pour himself
some black coffee,
exspéctans exspectávi Dóminum,

et inténdit mihi
Dom Henry said,
Hugh stood talking to George

about what I knew not
and cared not a jot,
she allowed me

to undress her
my hands shook
with excitement,

I waited for the Lord
and He heard me
Dom Henry said,

I put the plate on the trolley
and sipped my tea
watching Gareth discuss

Wittgenstein with an Austrian monk,
the abbot sipped coffee
conversing with the monk

with the cissy girl haircut
who showed me how
to pick apples,

take me, she whispered,
here and now,
the bell tower tolled

and the monks dispersed
placing cups and plates
on the trolley,

the peasant monk
pushed the trolley
back to the refectory,

head lowered, eyes downcast,
conversing with God no doubt,
spank me as foreplay,

she uttered soft,
I walked the cloister,
smell of blossoms,

the bell tolled,
bird song,
Dom James said

about learning Latin,
search the high road,
Dom Henry said,

avoid
the lower path
to sin.