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| Waterfall, Sierra Madre, Philippines |
If you want to find God, you can go by rail
or catch a jeepney, repaired a thousand times
and driven by a madman with a rosary on the mirror.
Tell him you seek the Divine and be certain
that he does not misconstrue your meaning.
You go down General Luna street to the place
where the Moon and Mars both must bow
to the great glittering of the Creator's face.
When you arrive, look for the Indian Laurel tree
where a crow has come down the backbone
of the Sierra Madre to wait here for you.
He knows you have lost much, your child, your home.
The Sierra Madre crow can offer only baubles,
still-warm bits of pan desal bread, and his wise mein.
He is here, like the church of San Agustin,
as mournful as the Christ, as wounded, as kind.
Go inside, where adobe bricks contain time itself,
and the Spanish artifacts reconcile gold with rust.
There you will find Dibella, Alberoni, majesty and peace.
Outside, the kind crow, the Philippine sky, the laurel trees.
__________
Written for Word Garden Word List--Full Dark, No Stars. When I was 20 or 21, I visited San Agustin Church in Manila. If there is a place in the world that is truly God's House, then San Agustin must surely be it.
Music: Kate Bush This Woman's Work
This is a magnificent journey of a poem Shay, one I feel holds some of your trip to San Agustin Church. I love every line but the last set are wonderful! The idea of adobe bricks containing time itself is brilliant and beautiful!
ReplyDelete"....as mournful as the Christ, as wounded, as kind....." What a wonderful line that is. You took me to a place I've never been and made me feel the reverence. I LOVE your closing line!
ReplyDeleteSuch a deep and thoughtful and thought provoking poem - You can almost feel the weightiness of the crow who guides us through the tour..what a moving place to visit I'm glad you took as there too - Jae
ReplyDeleteInteresting and provocative . Perhaps perception is all in the expectation. I like the way you always make us react. Well done.
ReplyDeleteA poem which opens the doors of the heart to peace, regardless of the particulars of faith. (The crow to me will always be a pagan, perhaps the ultimate one, yet he also holds many spirits.) I especially love ".. a crow has come down the backbone/of the Sierra Madre to wait here for you./He knows you have lost much.." A beautiful bit of writing, Shay, resonant and clear as the notes of a mission bell across the mountain distance.
ReplyDeleteA bittersweet poem with a beautiful sense of overcoming. Those crows don't give baubles to just anyone. You've captured such a warm healing feeling in this poem.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous writing and end lines, Shay!
ReplyDeleteI love poems that are visual, evoke emotion, contemplation, and your beautiful poem did that for me. I think spiritual moments as as unique as one's own fingerprints. You have inspired me to take in the beauty of the outward, and led me to let it water the drought in me I've been feeling for too long.
ReplyDeleteThis poem is beautiful, and, to me, warm and comforting. I seem to need that right now. I googled San Agustin. Wow, I'd like to see it in person sometime. It reminded me a bit of San Xavier del Bac in Tucson.
ReplyDelete"He is here, like the church of San Agustin,
ReplyDeleteas mournful as the Christ, as wounded, as kind.
Go inside, where adobe bricks contain time itself,
and the Spanish artifacts reconcile gold with rust."
Some of your most powerful and moving writing here.