Sister Rita
She was radiant loveliness.
Porcelain skin and perfectly sculpted features
Lit up by sparkling eyes and a welcoming smile
Perfectly shaped lips, when curved up in laughter,
Framed beautiful teeth agleam in the schoolroom’s sunlight
And all of this beauty accentuated
By the starched white wimple framing her face
And the rattle of her black wooden rosary beads
And the heavy black dress ...of her nun’s garb.
As a nine year old public school student
Brought in to study my religion
And feeling a smidge alien in what seemed like foreign turf,
I rejoiced in my good fortune.
Could have gotten that sharp featured nun
Whose voice matched her looks
As she laid out rules.
Now, so many years later,
When I talk to those who went full time to Catholic Schools
And tell them about Sister Rita,
They look at me,
Suspiciously
And ask,
Really????
And I answer,
Really.
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