Toledo

In Poe’s Pit and Pendulum, a prisoner is subjected to
Inquisition tortures in a Toledan cell, overseen by
Unseen eyes. When you buy the convent marzipan
A chirpy, but invisible female voice conducts
Negotiations via a revolving wooden trapdoor.

They are running short of Spanish nuns. Novices are
Imported from Sri Lanka, the Philippines or Bolivia.
The holy immigrants stand in convent courtyards,
Chatting and smiling shyly as secular first world
Tourists drift past, soaking up historical ambience.

The city used to be a mescla of Visigoth, Jew, Moor
And Christian. Until the Reconquista banished every
Heretic trace. Save in the architecture. Only now do
Craft shops boast of their fine Damesquado, an art
Secreted through time by beauty, in spite of doctrine.

Religion saturates. A bent-double nun is guided out of a
Cab by a novice who smiles and corrects us assertively.
Mosques, synagogues and churches blend into one. A sign
On a restored house in the Jewish quarter welcomes Jews,
Palestinians and other Arab visitors to pass through its doors.