May 2021
Sam Barbee
sambarbee@bellsouth.net
Bio Note: I like the “Remembering” theme since it must be the most common subject in my writing, maybe many writers. My submitted poems have three areas of recollection: recurring songs, a childhood toy, and, alas, one that got away. My most recent acceptances have been in Macrina Magazine, LiteraryYard and The South Shore Review. They go along with over a dozen rejections.

Genius Loci

Ronchamp Chapel, 1981
—Haute-Saồne, France

Weary, we ascend the mountain road, 
lined with trees, their winter structures tinted 
blueish-gray, silent trimmings billowed 
only by snowflakes’ rattle.
                                            You, an aspiring architect, 
know this remote chapel.  Just before dawn, as we
reach the crest, dreamy sunrise claims distant 
forests and rock faces, revealing what eternity’s
spirit might mean.    
                              Contours of this pale and holy 
place diffract our hearts.  Its thick facade, pocked 
with clerestory portals, allows sunshine
to illuminate the chapel, refract crannies overlooked
in day-trip guidebooks.  
                                       Stain-glass windows bejewel
soft ribs of light dissecting the sanctuary: scattering
primary colors onto altar artifacts and statues 
of attending saints.  
                                Rubble from the original cathedral, 
bombed in WWII, is sculpted into walls.  We rest
spotlighted on a cast-iron communion bench and partake 
of unbound light, whispering with forsaken silhouettes 
absorbed in shadows.  Incased in glass, a survivor 
of all wars, The Virgin Mary’s statue stands guard.
We slide closer, toward assurances love must be 
sanctified by its own spark. 
                                           Outside, other travelers 
huddle on the southern knoll.  Before descending, we
look back at the sloped roof and funneling windows, 
now knowing sunlight’s destinations.  We grasp 
new passion befitting hallowed promises, 
those never unfettered, only mimicked, 
only revived.
©2021 Sam Barbee
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