Toads Or Diamonds Poem by Margaret Alice Second

Totally unnerved, anxiety peaking to decrease
just to build up steam and rise again as Sister
Complacent-&-Self-Aggrandising reclassified
Donkeyskin as an illerate - she & Sister Long-
suffering share the honour of stars on the fore-
head while I suffer a donkeytail on mine

Mother Abbott leads the Sisters singing hymns
to themselves & their magnificence in doing the
literal translations that leave clients swooning in
their wake, pulling off amazing language coups
that overwhelm the senses with cloying incense
& showcase ability to find the right word for

All things technical - while poor Donkeyskin only
wonders at their mighty intelligence, taking back
her much-maligned translation and burying it in
the ground like an illegitimate child in Medieval
times; shocked to the point of offering to die by
Torquemada's Inquisition to purge her mind

Life is a burden when all come to the conclusion
that Donkeyskin is a drab, grey non-person who
does not deserve to breathe the hallowed air of
this esteemed institution, the only thing left is to
realise the sensory world is an illusion and that
knowledge dies with the incumbent, only LOVE

Remains, shining with purity and forgiveness -
filling Donkeyskin's heart with compassion for
herself and everyone else given that the view
of toads or diamonds falling from mouths is a
perception in the eye of the beholder…