A Fine Tart for the Virgin Mary

Supposedly, there was a trial,
Eventually, because Agnes
Went a wee bit too far with it,

Having convinced the Kottriches,
Sometime in the 1890s,
In the heart of Bavaria,

She could talk to their dead daughter,
Crescence, up in Heaven. Turns out,
According to Agnes, money

Can get a lot done in heaven—
Get one out of Purgatory,
Buy a wedding gift for angels.

Like all good marks, Frau Kottrich helped.
When the Virgin Mother of God
Asked for some cash, via Agnes,

It was Frau Kottrich who added
The thoughtful gift of a fine tart.
Having read all this in a book

Of words and phrases like ourselves,
We feel compelled to add what grief
It must have been, to want to help

So terribly any story
In which your lost child’s tale goes on
You will feed it, literally.