Warm oak polished
by Sunday best
are her aged pews
napped flint and
lime washed plaster
cool benevolence
the rock of ages
new to me
Chill green grey
bathed in warm light
at sun down soothes
the familial graves
and memorial benches
Solidity of purpose
makes me safe
St Mary's is always
in my head
so strange for a
convent girl
to find a building
more lovable than god
Author notes
Still banging on about the outside of church. Only like the inside when it's empty of other penitents. I think it's the quiet emptiness that beguiles me. That and the fact that she (St Mary's) has been there across the fields since Saxon times. A milennium.
Please tell me what you think
Comments
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I suppose that, among other things, churches were designed to uplift the spirit and provide sactuary. They also provide continuity over generations. A lack of belief in God doesn't remove our need for safety and spiritual enrichment. We just have to find it in different ways.
You words are beautifully descriptive, not just in terms of physical appearance but of the essence of the place.
I like it a lot.
XXR
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This little building always uplifts my spirit; when I have been away and I come back along the A27 "she" appears on the horizon at just the moment I need her. She says 'home'.....She is definitely a "she". An island of reality in an ocean of diarrohea as Jason M would say..... Thank you Ramsay for such a perfect comment. I will take you there one day....just to look at the outside and rest our backs against those stones... xx Kipper
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I look forward to that. (really)
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you should. We'll rest out backs in other places too. It will be fine. Aberglasney has fine walls and lots of long shadows... xx
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A strange poem for me...in North America history is in books not in wood and stone of places our long lost ancestors walked and where we can follow them!
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I have to say that as I see more of what the religious are doing in America and Iraq my view is moving from regarding it as the opiate of the masses to thinking of it as the firewater of the masses. Not some harmless eccentricity but a dangerous mania. I can still get a buzz out of buildings, though, so I think you have it absolutely right in this one.
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Vic... I don't want the mania... I will just ignore it. Head in sand, and yes, I have this right. Anything else is just such hard work...... Head in hands. xx D The Tractor.... will print it/save it and take it on holiday..... might get a minute there... best love, Debs xx ps d'ya miss creepy crawley?!!!!
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The religious have always thought they had the monopoly of common sense, though usually, to the rest of us, we can see that nothing is further from the truth. I cannot bear the fact they seem so certain they are right. I'm never that confident about anything I think. I need to get some comfort from somewhere, however, so I rely on the landscape and the dignity of old quiet places. And also right now on the humour of my godmother, to whom my dad referred as the white witch of Bromley. She has a very soft way with her of getting right to the heart of things. And she's also on my side! Earthmother GODmother she really is. xx debs
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I, too am drawn to churches. I'm not a great one for organised religion, but there's something about the atmosphere of an old church that draws you in. Philip Larkin called it: "a tense, musty, unignorable silence,
Brewed God knows how long."
You've captured that atmosphere here.
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I wholly agree about the organised religion thing. But somehow, the very fabric of some of the buildings (particularly the really old ones) seem to hold the drawn breath of many other thousands before me. Actually Keith, I think that applies to all buildings. Maybe I'm a bit 'fey' as my godmother tells me I am. x WWW (white witch worthing!) x
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I like this, you've given me a picture of a church that is also a picture of faith that is personal and timeless. I'm not sure what napped flint is, but it presents an image of endurance, and sparks. Chill, cool colours are soothing. I can find buildings lovable, as works of man, where I can't find love of god, so I think I understand what you're saying. I also love buildings that are made of the land where they sit, so they seem like another organic expression of the land.
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napped flints are the ones cut to fit just so. I think you understand exactly. No change there then x love to you x chills
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Loved it. I just finished Ken Follet's Pillars of the Earth and I'm still fascinated by churches. Favorite part:
"so strange for a
convent girl
to find a building
more lovable than god"
This was so cool to me because I love the idea of placing value in what we can do on Earth and all the beauty there is here. Ugh after reading this I just want to move to Europe and see some of these old places (I'm a little bit of a history nut). Nice to see ya postin' again
-dan
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Thank you dear - Dan. I will message you the photo of my 'pretty lady' building that just happens to be a church and also explain that I lived whilst having my babies in the cottage across the field from this place. It has blessing and peace for me more than any other, apart from the nursery in that old cottage..... I also refer you to my comments to 'Keith' and 'Pania' above/below xx I've been away cos busy painting my disgusting (now more eyecatching!) kitchen. xx Debs
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