Notre Dame...Notre Dame...
your eight hundred years of wisdom’s gone;
eight hundred years of beauty strong;
architectural sage, Notre Dame.
Notre Dame your life has seen
so many broken centuries and
oh, the stories your stones could tell,
told by the ringing of your bells.
Will they rebuild you once again?
Will your façade grace more eyes and
then will you be the same as once;
can France’s spirit overcome this loss?
Survivor of revolution and two world wars;
you’ve stood beyond the bombing hoards.
How many strove to give you life?
Their legacy’s now a burning pyre.
One hundred eighty two years of sweat;
poured into stone and minaret.
Gothic, stained glass beauty of Pa-ree,
such blood and sweat poured into thee.
Oh Notre Dame...Notre Dame;
survivor of eight centuries;
what’s now to become of thee?
Written 4-15-19
As an artist, I am sorrowful for this beautiful loss but, glad that no lives were lost. When I think of those who poured their life’s work into Notre Dame’s Beauty, the artist, architects, stonemasons, carpenters and more, I feel an even stronger sense of loss than just that of an
Categories:
stonemasons, art, beautiful, christian, fire,
Form: Rhyme
Nice and slow, I feel you coming on
Persistent, messy, though fragile
You are over me, under me, beyond me
Crushing my lingering patience,
So that it no longer lingers,
But putrefies
And all the while, I feel you coming on
Over me, under me, beyond me
You know you have planned this muddle
Organized, and poised, I did not take the bait
I became the bait
And you bit…by bliss you did bite
I was so afraid that your teeth were going to shatter…
Because I had been made by laboring stonemasons
Who were trained to reduce the most radiant of rock into devil
I was so hard-pressed in the ugliness
Though in that moment, you sank in, and deeply….
Over me, under me, and beyond me
You came onto me
And all the devil slammed into my being dissipated
Now I can barely stand without you…….
The magnetism of our union continues to intensify
For even patience has her prowl
And her rot is built on our magnum opuses
Categories:
stonemasons, creation, growth, life, light,
Form: Free verse
Contemplating atop the “Great Wall,” was Neruda comparing similarities of this and “Machu
Picchu?” Was there more commonality beyond stonemasons craft? High stone walls ancient
cities, “great walls,” lesser ones (Berlin) are designated barriers between peoples/ideologies
for protection. Long standing cultural isolation results.
Constructing a fence of wood at Isla Negra afforded symbolic protection. Wooden slats
allowed words over and through pickets to the world beyond. If “Machu Picchu” was “a trip to
the serenity of the soul,” fences and “great walls” lie on opposite sides of that.
Neruda’s prolific poetry rose above politics unencumbered by walls, fences or dogma.
for contest on Pablo Neruda
Categories:
stonemasons, dedication, people, political
Form: Narrative