Kasia

Sister Kasia died. A nun and a poetess like her famous namesake
Like a young novice, she wore a black scarf over her head and worked in the monastery garden
She was a beekeeper too, the best one. She talked to the bees and sang to them
As a best novice, she was supposed to take the dinner to the Abbess
It was a stormy night. The Abbess was ill
A noviciate took a pot of hot sage tea
In secret, she took a piece of honeycomb full of honey and put it into a cup.
She took a plate, knife, and one apple every day
Abbess dinner
A novice walked and sang down the corridor to the abbess room
Abbess was in a fever and lay with a smile
A noviciate called her Mother
Abbess told her to sing
It was the last week of the lent
Both were exhausted and hungry
Novice sang and peeled the apple.
When she was younger, she competed with the other novices
who will take an apple to the Abbess
After they peeled the apple and gave it to the Abbess, they took an apple peel and went outside
Secretly noviciates were chewing the apple peel after they went out
It was a time soon after the war when there was not enough food
The noviciate gave a peeled apple to the Abbess. Here you are, Mother.
Abbess returned an apple to the novice and said Eat it!
I will eat the apple peel to remind myself of its taste
At the time the lent is over you'll become a nun said the Abbess
You will be tonsured and given a new name
What do you think of the name Kasia?
That was years ago
When Kasia was born
Now Kasia lay in the coffin
People came to the church to attend the liturgy before the funeral
Kasia died alone in her monastic cell
With a peeled apple on her nightstand
Her eyes left opened like two deep water wells
Like two mirrors observing this world for the last time