Pearl (4 page)

‘Courtesy,' I said, ‘it seems certain,

 and heartfelt charity are at home here.

 But without offence let me offer these words:

 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
*

 If you really inhabit these rarefied heights

 and became a queen while so young in years,

 what high honour might be handed to him

 who stood strong and steadfast through strife,

 enduring penance through endless days

 and earning his bliss through bodily ache?

 Surely he would enter heaven with ease

 and be crowned a king of courtesy?

‘O
ur gentle Lord acts too generously

 
if what you say is actually so.

  You lived for less than two years in our world,

  knew neither your creed nor paternoster

  nor how to pray or to please God,

  but were dubbed a queen on your first day!

  My Lord excuse me, but I cannot believe

  that God would make such a great mistake.

  On my word, young woman, it would be one thing

  if you were counted a countess of heaven

  or allotted the role of a lower lady.

  But a queen no less – that exceeds the limit.’

 ‘There is no limit to our Lord's love,'

  were that worthy woman's words to me,

 ‘for all is honourable that He ordains,

  and He practises nothing that is not pure,

  as the message of Matthew in the mass reminds us

  in a true gospel of Almighty God.

  That parable paints a fitting picture

  which likens honour to the light of heaven.

“My kingdom on high,” he explains, “is comparable

  to the winemaker looking to hire his workers

  at that time of the year when the date dictates

  to labour at the vines until daylight's limit.

‘“All labourers know that date is a limit.

   So the vineyard owner rose very early

   to take on hands to tend his estate,

   and found a gang of able fellows,

   men who would work in the fields for a wage

   of a penny a day. With the pay agreed,

   they toiled at the trying and tiring tasks,

   trimming and tying, cultivating the crop.

   At nine the master went back to the market

   where men hung about, kicking their heels.

  ‘Why wait here idle and aimless,' he asked,

  ‘when the light of day is not limitless?'

‘“‘We came before sunrise, at night's limit,'

    said the unemployed in unison.

   ‘and we've waited here since the dawn of day,

    willing to work, but no one wants us.'

   ‘Go to my land, begin your labours,'

    said the master of the vineyard, making this vow:

   ‘What wage you are due at the day's end

    I promise to pay you – that is my pact.'

    So they went to the vineyard and got to work,

    and the lord of the manor went on in this manner,

    bringing hired hands to the vines every hour

    till the long day narrowed and neared its limit.

‘“As day neared its limit, at evensong,

   one hour before the sun goes down,

   men were still milling about in the market,

   and the vintner addressed them in a serious voice:

 ‘Why loiter and idle all day long?'

   They replied no employer had appointed them.

 ‘Go to my land young labourers

   and work at the vines as well as you can.'

   And soon the world was shrouded in shadow,

   the sun was lost and it was late.

   As he summoned the workers to receive their wage

   the day had lengthened and outlived its limit.

‘“T
he lord acknowledged the limit of day,

     
and called to his purser: ‘Pay these men,

      hand out whatever earnings I owe,

      and further, so no man finds fault with me,

      arrange that they stand in a single row

      and pay every person the same: a penny.

      Start with the last at the end of the line

      and finish with the first who stands at the front.’

      But those at the front took offence at that thought,

      arguing that they had laboured the longest.

    ‘These others have only worked for an hour.

      More effort should merit greater reward.

‘“‘It seems to us we deserve more,

    having suffered the heat of the sun all day,

    than those who toiled for two hours or less,

    yet you offer us earnings of equal amount.'

    The master said to one of the men:

   ‘Friend, our deal is not in doubt,

    take what I owe you and get off home.

    I hired you for a penny, that was our pact,

    but now you argue at our agreement.

    A penny was the price according to our contract.

    It is wrong to raise the terms by wrangling,

    so what do you mean by asking for more?

‘“‘Moreover, can it be a misdemeanour

    to do whatever I wish with my wealth?

    Do you mean to take advantage of me

    because I'm a just and generous man?'

    So I practise by the same principle,” says Christ:

  “The last shall be first to be given their lot,

    and the first and fastest shall be left till last,

    for many are called but few are chosen.”

    Thus the poor shall always have their portion:

    though they come late, and in little time

    their labour is spent with scant results,

    God will be all the more merciful.

‘I have in this place more peace and bliss,

 more status as a lady and fullness of life

 than any person in the world might win

 who seeks a just adjudication.

 I had barely begun my obedience –

 I entered the vineyard at evening, as it were –

 yet He did not forget to put me first,

 paying me all of my wage forthwith.

 Others who labour their whole lifetime

 and strive, sweat and slog forever

 are left wanting; they wait for their wage

 and may well do so for a year or more.'

  Then I talked again, more tersely this time:

 ‘I cannot agree with your argument.

  God is a ready and righteous ruler,

  or holy scripture is a hollow fable.

  In a clear voice, a verse of the Psalter

  is proof of an incontrovertible point.

“Supreme Sovereign, seated in judgement,

  you repay each man according to merit.”

  Now, if you should come to receive payment

  before him who laboured all day long,

  then the last to work claim the larger prize,

  and the lesser person makes more profit!'

‘I
n God’s domain, more and less

 
have the same meaning,’ said that noble maiden,

 ‘for every person is paid equally

  despite how much or little they deserve.

  The Almighty Master is no miser;

  however stern or restrained His dealings

  His gifts surge like water from a stream

  or rise from depths that never run dry.

  His abundance is boundless; to those believers

  who reach to Him to be rescued from sin

  no happiness would He ever withhold,

  for the grace of God is great enough for all.

‘Yet now you argue in order to outwit me,

 saying I was paid my penny improperly,

 and claim that because I came so late

 I remain unworthy of such a reward.

 But have you, in your life, ever heard of someone

 so wholly devout in holy devotion

 that he did not forfeit by some fault or other

 the reward of radiant heaven he had sought?

 And the older they grow, the more often

 they risk choosing wrong before right,

 so must seek mercy many times over

 and pray that God has grace enough for all.

‘But the innocent have enough inherent grace.

 After being born they are duly baptised,

 immersed at once in holy water,

 and so they venture into the vineyard.

 Soon their day, edged with darkness,

 descends at dusk into deathly night-time,

 and the Lord allots His labourers their allowance

 who were blameless during their brief lives.

 They did as He asked within those acres,

 so rightly He rewards them all with their wage.

 Yes, pays them first and pays them in full,

 for the grace of God is great enough for all.

‘Enough is known to acknowledge that man

 was first formed for a life of perfection,

 but our forefather, Adam, forfeited bliss

 by tasting the forbidden fruit on his tongue.

 By eating that apple he damned us all

 to die in sorrow, deprived of delight,

 then fall to the flaming fires of hell

 and be punished without reprieve or escape.

 But salvation was ours eventually,

 when crimson blood and clear water

 dripped on the cruel cross of Christ,

 because God's grace was great enough.

‘From that broad wound, enough bright blood

 and holy water welled earthward.

 The blood released us from relentless hell

 and saved us all from a second death.

 The water that streamed, it is worth saying,

 spilled on the spear which spiked our Lord,

 to banish, by baptism, those deadly sins

 of Adam's making, in which we were mired.

 In a blessed hour He restored our bliss,

 and now there is nothing in this wide world

 that stands between us and ecstasy,

 for the grace of God is great enough.

‘T
he man will be granted grace enough

 
who repeats his sin but solemnly repents,

  and seeks out grace with sincere sorrow

  and suffers the pains of true penitence.

  But judgement and justice go hand in hand,

  and will always save the guiltless soul.

  God’s law would never allow

  those pure in thought and deed to be punished.

  The guilty must plead for His forgiveness

  and through remorse be offered mercy,

  but those who resist all slyness and deceit

  are assured salvation through innocence.

 ‘So what I say is right by reason.

  God will spare two sorts of people:

  the righteous man shall see His face,

  and the innocent man shall be called forward.

  As the Psalter inquires with the following question:

“Lord, who shall scale your steep summit

  and come to rest in your holy realm?”

  And the psalmist is prompt to reply to himself:

“He who did no harm with his hands,

  who harboured no evil or hurt in his heart,

  shall find in heaven a firm footing.”

  By right the innocent are always safe.

‘And the righteous too will find a route

 to the shining citadel, that much is certain:

 those who lived without folly or lie,

 who were never false with friends or neighbours.

 Of the righteous man, Solomon reminds us

 how Wisdom obtained honour for him

 by leading him along the narrow lane

 with heaven's kingdom in sight up ahead,

 as if to imply, “That lovely isle

 is yours to gain if you keep going.”

 Because undeniably and without a doubt

 the innocent reach there, as of right.