Nun at the Retreat Center

Her hair is wet in the morning
but the showers are dry–
Too modest to undress
in a strange place?

Gray-haired, quiet and mousey
slight and bent,
her tan slacks have a crisp crease.
She combs her hair with a small
curved comb–the kind women
wore in their hair in a past
century.  It must feel like
raking, pulling it through
thinning locks atop
her white scalp.

She’s leaving today,
wants to look nice
for her departure.