Paul David Walker | + Follow Poet |
Free verse | + Fav Poem | Comment | Email | Print |

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

Please Login to post a comment