Bruce Bennett

Convent Thoughts

—painting by Charles Austin Collins

She contemplates a passion flower. Her book
is open to the Virgin. What a look
she gives it! Concentration so extreme,
transported, she’s inhabiting her dream.

That flower’s not a flower. What a look
she gives it! It’s her Lover. It is Him.
Transported, she’s inhabiting a dream.
Around her, Beauty flowers, but is dim

Because she’s with her Lover. She’s with Him.
There’s nothing else around her. There’s that wall
behind her, but that’s nothing. All is dim
except that flower she’s holding. That is all

There is for her forever. There’s no wall,
no world. There’s just that flower. What a look
she gives it! There’s her dream, and that is all.
Her flower. Her passion flower. And her book.