Time, weather, neglect
Natural reclamation
Soon enough resolved
Time, weather, neglect
Natural reclamation
Soon enough resolved
Only the stone
And perhaps some words
Which may yet outlive the stone
From electrons dancing on copper
Then pen to paper
And now perhaps
To electrons dancing on silicon
A record for eternity
I thought of it
As abandoned
Until I realized
It was simply empty
But for the light
Detritus
Old wood shedding paint
The tide’s gone out
He seemed, at least to himself
Unsteady, dilapidated
Built on feeble support
Detritus scattered all about him
He had suffered
Many storms
A lifetime of obstinate hardship
One day a passing glance at his reflection
And there he stood, steadfast
In all his battered glory
Just one minaret
Towers over us
Backlit in dull amber
Through thick smoke
With casual demeanour
We mill about
As though we’ve forgotten
This place’s exalted status
It’s majesty
Now somewhat diminished
It becomes a familiar thing
The thing we’ve all seen
In the same way
Photographed from the same spot
And so you go there
And when you take the photograph
You stand in the same spot
And take the same photograph
And damn if it ain’t as beautiful
As you’ve been told it was all these years
As beautiful as all the photographs
Taken from the same damn spot
And so you say to yourself
Yep. Been there
Done the beautiful thing
Seen and photo’d the remarkable thing
So you leave
And there’s some time
So you go to another thing
And the other thing’s pretty cool too
But then…
Then you see something
Some new other thing
Through a window in the cool thing
So you go up to the window
To get better look at this new other thing
And it takes you a minute
‘Cause you’ve never seen this new other thing
And it’s absolutely magnificent
And you wonder, just for a second
Where it was, all along
How’d everyone miss this exquisite thing
Before you realize
It’s the beautiful thing
The Remarkable thing
Seen from a different place
And it just blows your mind
I mean
I think the beautiful remarkable thing
Is even more beautiful, more remarkable
When seen from this different place
But everyone’s hung up
On the one place
The perfect place
For seeing the beautiful remarkable thing
So that’s how everyone sees it
And, yes
This poem is a metaphor
But what’s more important
Is finally seeing the beautiful remarkable thing
As if for the very first time
Wake
Drive
Sit/Stand/Kneel (repeat as necessary)
Hymn
Lord’s Prayer
Hymn
Apostle’s Creed
Reading
Hymn
Wafer (amen)
Sermon
Coffee and donuts
Drive
Play
There is a peace here
In this mingling of muslims
And infidels
Inspired I suppose
In equal parts
By awe and reverence
Faith and the appreciation
For beauty
And while nothing at all
About this place
In the heart of Old Delhi
Reminds me of home
The tenor of this moment
The tranquility of it
Is mindful of a Sunday stroll
Along English Bay
On a fine summer’s eve
With fellow revelers
In the ambrosia
Of existence
The beauty of an architectural space
That is not improved by the presence of people
Is an expression of the architect’s ego
Rather than the purpose of their efforts