Glopowrimo #15
An Elegy and an Ode to Notre Dame as a monologue
"Paris is burning" - Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins
"Paris is burning" - Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins
If a church burns
it can be rebuilt
but if faith is lost
it is difficult to retrieve
A place of worship
can be big or small
here or there
great or humble
but it can be replaced
or even not...
It is fragile and imperfect
like the people in it
and a work always in progress
with a sign on its knocker:
construction and alteration going on
There have been churches
built with love
and churches built
with hatred too
love to those within
love to those without
hatred to those within
hatred to those without
and different combos of these four
A church is not
just a major, historical, significant, cultural landmark!
or only a mythical, archetypal warehouse you can ransack for images
but living
It is supposedly
a refuge for humans
made of people whose hearts are temples
given to
the service of God, and all
The bells and spires
the stained-glass art
the naves and kneelers
the pews and pianos
the pulpit and the baptismal font
the cross and the hanged man
the rock and the Rock
the martyrs and saints
& all that aspire
to a higher eminence
came much later
only, into being
as symbols and icons
of something much deeper
First they - were - lived
and, yes, greater
which truth was also
found in the East
in the sermons of Buddha
in the words of Nanak
in the wandering minstrels
and their madrigals
in the sages who wrote
the Vedas and the Upanishads
All who aspire for the Light of God
and towards it
know that a church
is a place that is for it
open and skywards
founded in the earth
the symbol for Nature
and reaching for the sky
which is a symbol of heaven and the Universe
and full of treasures
made by man
to show his longing for the Divine
The art work in the Notre Dame
the writings of Hugo
and his hunchback
and the bishop and his candlesticks
are treasures
that will live on
never die
as long as time...
Nortre Dame will be rebuilt
as a call to all people
to return from their sins
of colonialism
imperialism
racism
patriarchy
gender bias
class differences
linguistic chauvinism
paedophilia, nun abuse, excesses in poverty, celibacy and obedience among and to the clergy
instead of purity, marriage and co existence while loving God
misguided nationalism, jingoism, fascism, fanaticism or zealotry
hatred of other sects and denominations
and other religions
all to be washed away
Again it will be filled
with songs and choristers
with incense and candelabra
with the signs of newness
for even our evil times
and the old Notre Dame in the mind
in memories
unvisited, but remembered
continue to be a hope
that what was can again come to be
to be a beacon of a lighthouse
of culture for the world
without its stains
but full of faith and love.
it can be rebuilt
but if faith is lost
it is difficult to retrieve
A place of worship
can be big or small
here or there
great or humble
but it can be replaced
or even not...
It is fragile and imperfect
like the people in it
and a work always in progress
with a sign on its knocker:
construction and alteration going on
There have been churches
built with love
and churches built
with hatred too
love to those within
love to those without
hatred to those within
hatred to those without
and different combos of these four
A church is not
just a major, historical, significant, cultural landmark!
or only a mythical, archetypal warehouse you can ransack for images
but living
It is supposedly
a refuge for humans
made of people whose hearts are temples
given to
the service of God, and all
The bells and spires
the stained-glass art
the naves and kneelers
the pews and pianos
the pulpit and the baptismal font
the cross and the hanged man
the rock and the Rock
the martyrs and saints
& all that aspire
to a higher eminence
came much later
only, into being
as symbols and icons
of something much deeper
First they - were - lived
and, yes, greater
which truth was also
found in the East
in the sermons of Buddha
in the words of Nanak
in the wandering minstrels
and their madrigals
in the sages who wrote
the Vedas and the Upanishads
All who aspire for the Light of God
and towards it
know that a church
is a place that is for it
open and skywards
founded in the earth
the symbol for Nature
and reaching for the sky
which is a symbol of heaven and the Universe
and full of treasures
made by man
to show his longing for the Divine
The art work in the Notre Dame
the writings of Hugo
and his hunchback
and the bishop and his candlesticks
are treasures
that will live on
never die
as long as time...
Nortre Dame will be rebuilt
as a call to all people
to return from their sins
of colonialism
imperialism
racism
patriarchy
gender bias
class differences
linguistic chauvinism
paedophilia, nun abuse, excesses in poverty, celibacy and obedience among and to the clergy
instead of purity, marriage and co existence while loving God
misguided nationalism, jingoism, fascism, fanaticism or zealotry
hatred of other sects and denominations
and other religions
all to be washed away
Again it will be filled
with songs and choristers
with incense and candelabra
with the signs of newness
for even our evil times
and the old Notre Dame in the mind
in memories
unvisited, but remembered
continue to be a hope
that what was can again come to be
to be a beacon of a lighthouse
of culture for the world
without its stains
but full of faith and love.
Copyright Koshy AV
I wanted to put two pictures of before and right now but poetry is/speaks better.
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