St Brigid and the Baker

As Brigid was walking
the old narrow track
she passed by a baker
with bread in his sack.

She put out a hand
from the fold of her cloak,
and these are the words
she softly spoke:

“Please give me a loaf
for my sisters and me,
and we’ll share it tonight
as we sit to our tea.”

But the baker, he muttered
and shook a mean head.
“If you want to eat, sister,
then bake your own bread.”

She looked in his eyes then,
but all that she found
was a stare that was hard
as the stones on the ground.

So Brigid passed quietly
along the hard track
as the bread turned to stone
on the baker’s back.