Thomas had insisted that Joanna was a Lorrainer
who conversed with angels in the heart of solitude,
a shepherdess who saw God in forests and fountains,
the fountain of Domrémy where fairies and fawns
sought the sanctity of the woods.

The sagacity of her guileful judges
is worth nothing but ridicule.
They asked what language the angelic visitors
employed in their discourse with her
as if God could not breathe his whispers
into her pure, innermost thoughts.

The Pucelle d’Orleans died grandly
in her battle with fire and falsehood.
The soldier who planned to throw a faggot
on her scaffold regretted his plot.
He spent the remainder of his life a penitent
after he had seen the fluttering dove
rise out of the ashes of the Maid of Arc.

Susie Gharib is a graduate of the University of Strathclyde with a Ph.D. on the work of D.H. Lawrence. Her poetry and fiction have appeared in multiple venues including Adelaide Literary Magazine, Green Hills Literary Lantern, A New Ulster, Crossways, The Curlew, The Pennsylvania Literary Journal, The Ink Pantry, Mad Swirl, Miller’s Pond Poetry Magazine, and Down in the Dirt.