The Master passed away in the plague year . . .
Of 1348, just to be clear.
Then in Bologna, where he taught church law,
The students gasped when in his place they saw
His radiant child, famed for her beauty there.
Smart lectures she could easily prepare,
Since in re complex law, she knew her stuff.
But still the students found it very tough,
To follow legal logic in each case
Confronted by that lovely woman’s face.
They could learn more if she remained unseen,
So she was forced to teach behind a screen.
A plague keeps us now tightly locked in place
We moan that we cannot be face to face.
Nor do we feel the fates are specially kind
Because we’re on the screen and not behind.