Sun worshippers

Poem for the week, 9 January 2023

 

 

 

 

Sun worshippers
Milan, Italy

Shelterless
above the nativity of St Mary,

like sunflowers
we orient our adoration,
in echo of the Magi,
towards the closest star;

high solar clergy
genuflecting
factor 30 on bare skin,
below an azure altar.

Divesting denim vestments,
we inverse-prostrate
ourselves below
the Madonnina,

facing the heavens,
backs to the buttresses.

Metropolitan soundscapes
rise as prayerful murmurs,
muffled by time,
dimmed by height,

intruding soft as incense
on our supra-cathedra sanctum,
where one has rolled her skirt
up to her groin

and one tucked wicking wool
inside her intimate silk
in timeless vogue
for worshipping the sun,

less fashionable for vespers
in the nave below.

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