The Intimidata

What they taught us:
To sit still.
To walk in tidy lines.
To keep our hands folded.
To pray to Mary to keep pure.

What they feared:
A cacophony of chattering children
in a rhapsody of learning.
A mess of joyful children
swarming through the hallways.
A mass of sexual children,
touching forbidden fruits.

What we were:
Reined in, like broken animals.
Mute, like plastic dolls.
Little kneeling intimidata
shrinking under our own sin!

What we did when they left the room.
Threw spitballs.
Shrieked with talk and laughter.
Listened for the clank of keys and rosaries—
their inevitable return.