The Magdalene Laundries

They named them after her
Mary Magdalene
Not knowing that she was there to protect them
The women and children
The women who were carrying the sins of their fathers
The fathers in their homes who would not stop
Raping their daughters
The Fathers in the church whose hands lifted cassocks
And the skirts of the girls in their care.

They named them after her
The one named whore, not by her beloved
The Christ, but by the church who took his name
In vain. Who grew a story up around him
A story that was never true
In which women are evil and men are good.

They named them after her
And then they brought the girls and women
Homeless women, beaten women, women whose sins
Included being women, mostly.
They brought them to these merciless places
Named for the Magdalene
And they tortured them in the name of God
Killed the babies
And the mothers
Sometimes these were the same, child-mothers
Called whore
By the same church who disowned
The very partner of Jesus
And called her whore
For no reason.

They named them after her,
The Magdalene Laundries
Never understanding
That she was there
Gathering every soul to her compassionate
Endless breast
Taking them home.