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 | The collected works of Ambrose Bierce |  |
[The widow-queen of Portugal]
The widow-queen of Portugal
Had an audacious jester
Who entered the confessional
Disguised, and there confessed her.
Had an audacious jester
Who entered the confessional
Disguised, and there confessed her.
176
“Father,” she said, “thine ear bend down—
My sins are more than scarlet:
I love my fool—blaspheming clown,
And common, base-born varlet.”
My sins are more than scarlet:
I love my fool—blaspheming clown,
And common, base-born varlet.”
“Daughter,” the mimic priest replied,
“That sin, indeed, is awful:
The church's pardon is denied
To love that is unlawful.
“That sin, indeed, is awful:
The church's pardon is denied
To love that is unlawful.
“But since thy stubborn heart will be
For him forever pleading,
Thou'dst better make him, by decree,
A man of birth and breeding.”
For him forever pleading,
Thou'dst better make him, by decree,
A man of birth and breeding.”
She made the fool a duke, in hope
With Heaven's taboo to palter;
Then told a priest, who told the Pope,
Who damned her from the altar!
With Heaven's taboo to palter;
Then told a priest, who told the Pope,
Who damned her from the altar!
Barel Dort.
| The collected works of Ambrose Bierce | |