Poem of the Week

WHAT IF…

The Saint Thomas Cathedral arches

Fade into the roof above.

Afternoon sun filters through Saints,

Sinners, the forgiven, the damned.

Cascading from one wall to the next,

Father Duncan’s voice recounts history.

“Remember the Anglos,

The Saxons, the Jutes,

Civilized by God.”

In the carved hardwood pew,

Across the marble stoned walkway

Etched by the feet of choirboys,

Chanters, and Priests,

My Rose falls toward me,

Whispers heresy,

“What if we took the divine out of divinity?”

Shadowed treachery twinkles in her eyes.

What if, what if, what if…

My tortured mind considers this:

Los Angeles

Four white cops beating a black man

Without mercy.

Unfaithful wives,

On daytime soaps and talk shows,

Fascinate us.

Post nine one one,

A rock cracked window fronting an Arab man’s corner store

Breeches equality.

A highway chase ends,

Arrested celebrities exit white suburbans, lay dollar after dollar,

Walk free.

Elected officials

Lie smoke from their mouths under oath,

Go unimpeached.

Individual rights,

Selfishly curse the common good,

Divide the United.

In the dusk darkened sanctuary,

With Rose, the parishioners gone,

I alone watch the candles flicker

Off the pilings and spill onto the marble floor.

I tremble, toe the kneeling bench down,

Look up toward the undiefied divine,

The question no longer What if but

What now?