The morning next arrives and Preacher finds
regardless his attempt to fall sleep
he couldn't catch a wink before the dawn.
He dresses, feeling fine, in pantaloons
and shirt he bought with little money held
within his pocket yesterday, and scrubs
his face and brushes hair before he leaves
his house behind the chapel for the streets
of saffron bricks obscur'd in rolling fog
to promenade toward the centre square, 10
wherein he spots the steeple's swinging bell
to call the populace toward the church
with booming chime so full and sonorous
he thinks the city whole must hear it ring.
He passes through an alleyway betwixt
two shops to come upon th'adjacent street
whereat the Chaplain's grand cathedral stands
upon the junction point of sev'ral roads
with stairs t'ascend toward its entrance doors,
majestic in their splendid oaken forms 20
encas'd in frames of gleaming golden stone
that spreads itself to grow in pointed spires,
each ring'd with statues long of tongue or loins
or hair—depending on the sex the stone
depicts—which serve the useful purpose of
dispelling water from the building, but
as well discomfort Preacher with what they
convey about th'religion taught inside.
He enters through the entrance doors into
a foyer where there's hooks for hanging coats 30
as well as naked paintings on the walls
of people caught in ecstasy, unless
they're cloth'd, which seems a gravest woe to them
as th'envious are rob'd and made to watch
the naked lay together, reaping joy.
Proceeding through an arch and up three stairs
he comes upon the grandest chapel he
hath ever seen, with rows and rows of pews
and still a second storey up above
the foyer, looking down upon the first. 40
A strip of carpeting dyed red as rose
proceeds from here toward the dais steps,
and up above are curtains red the same
to drape across the bars and hide backstage;
and t'either side of th'rug are floors of stone
illuminated thousand diff'rent hues
by light cascading in through windows stain'd,
YOU ARE READING
As Ever Like the Sun & Moon at War
PoetryA troubled Pilgrim sets upon a road in search by sun and storm of paradise; a vain Pariah's banish'd from his home to render justice by the moonlit night: two individuals who share a flesh, each unalike in methods and beliefs, yet fated consequence...
