March 14, 1431
No hesitancy today,
but right to my examination.
The clerics seem as eager to attack
me with questions
as a butcher is to slaughter
his fattened calf on Martinmas.
Why did you leap from
the tower at Beaurevoir?
When you leaped, did you believe
you were killing yourself,
which is a mortal sin?
Two or three days after your leap,
did you curse or deny God?
We have evidence that you cursed God.
Would you like to refer to it?
I shake my head.
Why would I listen
to the words of my captors
or these men intent on my guilt?
Enduring day after day of interrogation,
I grow as tired as an old woman
who must carry all her wares on her back.
Even though some of these questions are new,
I want to avoid being asked the same things
should my trial be moved to Paris,
as is rumored might happen next.
I ask if I may have a copy
of these questions and my answers
to give to my next examiners.
Perhaps all this repetition can be avoided.