The Evolution of Churches

Before,

le plein cintre

half formed of clay

and stone,

like the opening of hands to sky,

churches made of rocks

impossibly placed

in alignment with the stars--

an open cathedral.

Now churches growing towards god,

the gallery of kings

rebuilt higher

and higher,

carved and beaten stone

statues reining,

as if birth rights

gave them the power

of divinity.

And these have diminished:

facades full of poles, and ladders,

and the molded, half crumbled forms

of these immortals,

while rocks

learned to hold sky.