CHURCH AT ERENGAL - PART 1…
 

Wrap me up in cotton, and carry me
To the dark waterfront
Where the old church stands forgotten

Put me down at the wooden threshold
Below the steep walls that hang
Enigmatic,over a purple wilderness

Leave me here and go away

This place I enter alone…

Step inside the vast empty shrine
No lights here, no orchestra
No sermons, no priest

Just stripped naked walls
And a stillness of centuries…
Broken occasionally
By the flutter of white pigeons
Across high bay windows

In the back, the deep gurgling sea

Dark, dusty benches lie in rows, un-toed.
Bare and brazen stands before me
The untouched Altar

Time and again my restless soul has
Dragged me here looking for answers

To unasked questions                  

Time and again I’ve straggled on my feet

Stood bewildered

At the abandoned crucifix
Slowly lighting one single candle

Waiting . . .

Waiting to confront Him

This is my sanctuary
Here my God belongs only to me

CHURCH AT ERENGAL - PART 2

I left the door stark open
When I stormed out of the church!

Through the squall I walked all night
Barefoot on the shore

High winds crashing through the darkness
Wild sea beating at my toes

I walked the sinking sands all night
Waiting to confront you

I knew you were there, somewhere-
You Goddamn knew it was me!

One crazy streak of thunderbolt
Kept hounding me, like a madman’s eye

They’d dumped their nets, the fishermen
And bolted towards sanity!

It rattled and creaked all night, the door
Eccentric winds wheezed
Through the shattered windows,
Rocked the barren Altar -

A yellow lamp swayed, spilt light around

From corner to corner of the tall damp walls
Darted the white pigeons
Seeking asylum from a hostile sea

Drenched to the bone, I stumbled in your door
Hoping for once to find you, instead
Got knocked around by emptiness…

Hiding some place, weren’t you?

For once you should have had the gall
To confront me! For once
You could have come clean with me!