Day Forty-eight

Today's words:

Novice

Herald

Judge

Exile

Song

Reform

I'm a bit of a novice

At this sort of thing, although I've read about it in the Herald.

But who am I to judge?

It's either conform or go into exile,

Singing a lonely song

While waiting for reform.

Remember the Vatican II reform?

My teacher at the time was a novice

Sister, and she said it promised great things. She even wrote a song

About it. It seemed like the herald

Of a new era. Perhaps those in self-imposed exile

Would return, and a new judge

Would preside. A judge

Committed to reform,

Opposed to exile,

Accessible to novice

And senior alike. Let the herald

Announce his arrival with a song.

But I guess my song

Wasn't pleasing to the judge.

He had the herald

Escort me out, as part of his reform.

He replaced me with a novice

And I went into exile.

And here I remain, in exile

With no company except my song.

Meanwhile the novice

And the judge

Continue their reform

Which didn't, after all, herald

A new day. I hear the old herald

Is in exile

Now too. Such a brutal reform

And all for a song

That he didn't judge

Adequate, preferring one sung by a novice.

Just as the herald begins his song

Of exile, the judge

Decides to reform the code of the novice.