Courtyard of a House in Delft

This place, this hateful place, and now, a noise
that will expose me. He is a good man,
I know that, but he has fallen like so
many men before him. It is to me
his wife that he has turned, as is right. I
wish for silence, for discretion, for haste.
Instead, the money lender is late and
the child and her mother are drawing eyes
to this small corner of the yard. Their laughs
and chatter so loathsome, so against God's pure word.
I should pray, I have prayed, but nothing changes
and our debts still grow. I ask for a way
out but no answer comes. "Our father," I
say, "who art in heaven&;#8230;" Then no reply.
I wish the child would be quiet. And her
mother too. When the lender is gone we
will go back to the way we were before
all this. The debts paid off, our problems gone.
But please, silence now! And keep eyes turned away
from this corner of this courtyard in Delft.