The Old Cathedral
Don Hynes
The Old Cathedral
The arched ceiling of the abandoned cathedral
spans the dust ridden air, columns and balustrades intact
though the ornament of plaster and paint are gone,
a mass of rubble and ruin and decay on the broken floor
except the eastern knave with its high vaulted window,
a colored mosaic of glass, miraculously intact,
as if this singular portal were the remaining voice
of all that had gone before, the years of prayers and incantation,
the tears of sorrow, the hopes and expectations
condensed into a density of color and brilliance of morning light
shining through, pouring the unceasing radiance of the sun
upon what remains and what has gone
alike to the beautiful shafts of red and blue,
the glory the builders had sought to invoke
still visiting their work despite its ruin,
the ancient truths sustaining, with tender grace
offering a renewed imprint of what could come
through a portal carved in reverence.
Don Hynes