Beauty

Sunday morning and the rain is still falling After lightning parted the night sky And shook windows with the thunderous sound Of the parted clouds crashing back together And after this night of pouring rain, howling winds And flashing windows people file into the Cathedral. The echo of shiny shoes against stone Resound with different cadences As old men holding on to life, Young girls in blooming white dress, Boys with dreams of heroes And parents holding hands with hopes Walk across the tombs of kings and saints. As everyone finds their place The organ begins soft sounds that Wind about the huge pillars supporting The vaulted ceilings and the stained Glass windows with the stories of saints Lovingly created hundreds of years ago The choir files in with the musicians And the director who has organized The sheets of music and the lives Of children with angelic voices And grown ups with many voices To reach for the heavens with their song The pipe organ signals the beginning With a deep loud burst of chords That shakes the walls like thunder And the precession of seekers, Alter boys, priests and candles Representing the light of the spirit In slow motion float into their places The conductor signals the musicians To join the organ, the boys choir As sweet as spring sings like heavenly bells, The rest of the choir answers the call As the congregation gradually joins in Each letting go in their own way Of the troubles that close their hearts The sounds circle within the space As all the voices expand and touch Each others hearts with divine cords And as the light seems to brighten inside The clouds above the Cathedral part And let in a golden beam that seems To come from heaven to span rainbows And sparkles on deep green fields As though the rhythms synchronized With some heavenly code to release The darkness all across the land Paul Walker June 12, 2004