SUPPER TIME 1971

A YOUTH IN AN ABBEY IN 1971 HAUNTED BY A WOMAN

Supper in the refectory
of the abbey,
cloister lit only

by random lights
and moon's glow,
Leo by bell rope

dressed in black robes
by the refectory door,
where a man's heart is there's

his treasure Ambrose said,
I walk to the breadboard
and cut thick slices

of brown bread,
if you want you can
she said and so I did,  

the abbot enters
and begins the grace
before meals,

Latin in unison,
stomach rumbling,
eyes on the tiled

wooden floor,
te corda nostra sómnient,
we sit on benches

Gareth unrolls his napkin
and cutlery within,
the monk reads

from some holy book,
I nibble the brown bread
waiting for supper,

Hugh gazes at the monk opposite
eyes gauging and judging,
monks bring supper

from the kitchen on trolleys,
place me across your knees
she said smiling,

the science of love is
what I want said Therese
the only science I want,

I eat the cheese macaroni
warm and creamy,
the monk reading

speaks of Cromwell in battle,
George next to me
eats in a slow measured way,

eyes on the bench,
ears attentive to the reading
unlike mine,

I wanted her,
enter me as a ship
in port she said,

dark windows behind us,
moon's light is seen
through the glass above,

by being kind one is free
even though a slave
Augustine said

evil makes one a slave
though seeming royal,
supper is at an end

drinking the last
sips of cocoa, I lick clean
the cutlery and place

within the napkin
and put beneath the bench,
the abbot taps on his table

and we stand
for prayers of thanks,
Leo goes to Rome for studies

and we say farewell
by handshake and words
in the cloister

by the refectory door,
moonlight in the corner
of the cloister sky,

come she said
take me don't be shy.