cuba

My eldest sister arrived home that morning
In her white muslin evening dress.
'Who the hell do you think you are
Running out to dances in next to nothing?
As though we hadn't enough bother
With the world at war, if not at an end.'
My father was pounding the breakfast-table.

'Those Yankees were touch and go as it was—
If you'd heard Patton in Armagh—
But this Kennedy's nearly an Irishman
So he's not much better than ourselves.
And him with only to say the word.
If you've got anything on your mind
Maybe you should make your peace with God.'

I could hear May from beyond the curtain.
'Bless me, Father, for I have sinned.
I told a lie once, I was disobedient once.
And, Father, a boy touched me once.'
'Tell me, child. Was this touch immodest?
Did he touch your breasts, for example?'
'He brushed against me, Father. Very gently.'

-- Paul Muldoon

i find the concept of confession rather strange, the idea that a supposed sin can be committed and then repented for by reciting a holy verse an arbitrarily decided number of times is odd at the very least. most major religions however, proscribe the practice in one form or another, perhaps in an attempt to console the sinner or maybe to load him with so much of recitation that he thinks twice before brushing against a woman again.
posted by ubaid - Tuesday, September 09, 2003 at 12:03 AM - 0 comments - post anonymously