Alison Croggan: Sor Juana

Freely constructed from a letter by Sor Juana de la Cruz

the letters of the good mothers
are drenched in secular eloquence
if all the limbs of my body were tongues
I could not publish such excellence

they do not hasten to condemn
deformities of the human heart
yet ambition may become a woman
muliere in silentio discat

the properties of a hare may briefly
make a woman handsome
but I would rather ungreased hinges
and the study of declensions

osculatur me osculo
oris sui decrees the Song
if lips were letters I could more straitly
be given to wondering

for this pure grammar of kisses
may express a pious verity
that mitigates the condemnations
of lascivious sorority

if a harp can cure a king's sickness
then song may heal my sin
I merely lust to follow studies
that are celebrated in men