No emoji can explain your face when the cathedral is burning.

 
 

When the Cathedral is Burning

When St. Raphael’s Cathedral burned, it was a homeless man
Camped among pews with his harmless prayers and fire
He couldn’t save the stone walls, but the glorious steeple
Laid for a decade in a parking lot to be re-imagined
 
Before it too was scrapped, and you wonder
How many days until the sun goes down, how many stones
In your own walls will crumble, or pop to dust
From a poor man’s judgement?

The walls of your house are in no rush to age
You have cleared a place to plant cherry or plum this morning
Shopping for a tree, you get the call, wander the parking lot for reception
The maple leaves have finally turned
 
The reddest leaves to be found--beaming--before she tells you
Saving one after another:  Captivated by color smothered in snow
You loved her; it was clear: Years of evolution ahead, dancing in streams
Sabbatical in Spain. The foothills of Kilimanjaro
 
Furniture is dumped to the dark wet street while green lights yield to yellow
And blinks of red. You will not be told everything, for she is kind
There will be no tree, you tell your friends. Searching for words
Yet no emoji can explain your face when the cathedral is burning