Pope Joan Carol Ann Duffy

After I learned to transubstantiate 
unleavened bread
into the sacred host

and swung the burning frankincense
till blue -green snakes of smoke
coiled round the hem of my robe

and swayed through those fervent crowds
high up in a papal chair 
blessing and blessing the air

nearer to heaven
than cardinals, archbishops, bishops, preists
being Vicar of Rome 

having made the Vatican my home
like the best of men 
in nomine patris et filii et spiritus sancti amen 

but twice as virtuous as them
I came to believe
that I did not believe a word

so I tell you now
daughters or brides of the Lord
that the closest I felt 
to the power of God
was the sense of a hand
lifting me, flinging me down

lifting me, flinging me down
as my baby pushed out
from between my legs

where I lay in the road
in my miracle
not a man or a pope at all