2023 NaPM 28 April

[dukealien]

Pennies in a Dead Child’s Eyes

(See The Stolen Pennies)

I.  It Takes a Stranger

Not one living soul in the family
could in any way discern
their dead child’s ghost.
Whether this invisibility
resulted from its shame
or the living’s lack of willingness
to see its presence and its plight
only a friendly visitor
could sense its restless passage
and alert them.
Once their attention was secured
a story clicked
and resolution could proceed.

II.  The Great Sin

Shock.  That a child might be
condemned to wander
barred from Heaven
spending nights in Hell
or Purgatory at the least
for so trifling a theft.
But it’s not the two coppers
but their consecration
to a purpose which
transfigured their base nature
into stealing from the poor box.
Or, worse yet,
Disobedience
worst of all sins which underlies
even the grandest - Pride -
beside which simple Greed or Gluttony
scarcely signifies.

III.  Coins in the Coffer Ring

But what have the two
rescued pennies purchased
in the end?
Something very like an Indulgence.
Not so, Brother Martin?