EHEU INFANTA SCIENTIA PLENA 
                          (Alas, Child, Full of Knowledge) 

        
                     Liturgies counterpointed in time
                     Unfold the life to come for nuns and friars
                     In their cells alone or flocked in choirs:
                     Daily whispered Evensong, sung Prime;
                     Angel, manger, magi, ashes, palms,
                     Bread and wine, thorn crown, nails, sponge and spear,
                     Empty cave, dove, seasons that build a year;
                     Weekly fast; cycle of chanted psalms.

                     The life to come, unfolding in the womb,
                     Knows in its cells alone how to create
                     Itself, dividing with precise distinction
                     Into tongue, or knee, or what will become
                     The cloistered brain obliged to contemplate,
                     In time, its own coming and sure extinction.