Sunday, April 15, 2012

Explosions of Light



A nave and its ghosts
bear witness to explosions
of light and heat and fire
fire swept down the street
as sparks mutated into flames
dancing cross rooftops
consuming the place
Chaucer knows, leaving
charred wood splinters, ash
and smoke, and later
a sky shell hollowed out
what Sir Christopher wrought,
leaving only a stone fabric
monument to the dogs of war,
until moved piecemeal
to enclose a place for Light.


Photographs: St. Mary’s Aldermanbury, a medieval church destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666, rebuilt by Sir Chrisopher Wren, destroyed by German bombs in 1941 during the Great Blitz, left as a testament until 1961, and moved to Fulton, Mo. in 1961, where it was restored near the building where Winston Churchill gave his “Iron Curtain” speech in 1946. Today it sits atop the National Churchill Museum (and a fine museum it is). Nearby is “Breakthrough,” a sculpture constructed from blocks of the Berlin Wall by Edwina Sandys, Churchill’s granddaughter.



6 comments:

  1. Powerful piece and great images. Man can never destroy what God has built. Nice to discover your blog. I will return. :-)



    http://lyricfire.typepad.com/lyric-fire/2012/04/lyric-fire-napowrimo-2012-day-15-of-30-poems-in-30-days-light-walker.html

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  2. Love the poem and the images -- and the history lesson too!

    thanks Glynn.

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  3. Fantastic poem. . . rich imagery. . .

    Thanks for posting Glynn!

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  4. All aspects of this are intriguing.

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  5. Great images and poem - you have treated us to a history lesson in such a beautiful and lyrical way. Well done!

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  6. LIght breaking through
    breaking through the walls

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